Chronicles the experiences of a brash young journalist who landed a job as a war correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and became an award-winning reporter after two years in Indochina. $40,000 ad/promo. Tour. IP.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Leslie's memoir of his stint as Los Angeles Times correspondent during the last two years of U.S. involvement in Indochina is a touch unusual, for the author admits that his love/hate relationship with the war was more a matter of love. As reprinted here, his reporting of the 1972 Easter Offensive was outstanding, as were his non-combat pieces. Accompanied by an Agence France Presse reporter, Leslie scored a journalistic coup with a vist to a Viet Cong liberated zone. Eventually expelled from Vietnam ("We can accept criticism," explained a government spokesman, "but not insults"), he was reassigned to Cambodia, where he covered Phnom Penh's final days before the Khmer Rouge takeover. Leslie reveals his opinions of his colleagues, particularly Gloria Emerson ("a mournful Auntie Mame") and Sydney Schanberg ("unscrupulous"). Deprived by the peace accords of his "beloved, resplendent Vietnam War," Leslie succumbed to depression after returning to L.A. and admits that he is a not quite recovered "addict" of that experience. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The "mark" is defined as an addiction to Vietnam, a "perverse and frightened expression of ...love" for the country. This first book and self-centered memoir, written 15 years after the author left Indochina, is certainly different from the earlier vast catalog on the subject. Alienated from his parents, Leslie had started a search for identity and believed he had found it in Vietnam amidst its corruption, death, torture, political lives, et al. He had gone there as a fledgling war correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and confesses, "With the inflated gravity of a 25-year-old, I considered myself the sole journalist who told the truth." The writing here is exemplary; the ego of the writer is undiminished. Strongly recommended, especially for libraries with major Vietnam collections.?Chet Hagan, Berks Cty. P.L. System, Pa.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Riveting Realism of the Conflicts in Southeast Asia,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Mark: A War Correspondent's Memoir of Vietnam and Cambodia (Hardcover)
A must read for anyone wanting an honest, documented, and exciting story about what it was like being a war correspondent in Vietnam and Cambodia. What is outstanding about Leslie's writing is that he doesn't give in to the journalism game of giving the editors what they want to hear---He tells it like it is, and has a genius for getting his truth through the red-tape. His courage in going to the Viet-Cong for their view of the real reason of the war is absolutely the best exposure yet written about the United States senseless involvement in trying to be a strong-arm for the Saigon elite. Sincerely, Franklin D. Rast, Author-"Don's Nam," and "Ghosts In The Wire."
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good perspective,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Mark: A War Correspondent's Memoir of Vietnam and Cambodia (Hardcover)
This is a good account of the closing years of the vietnam war, plus insight in cambodia.
The author does a good job explaining the dynamics of working as a foreign correspondent in a war zone. Its funny, irreverent and personal. Some of the macro analysis will have readers cheering or jeering. I found it a bit grating. All in all a very solid and fun read.
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
I did not realize until years after the event that it was the pivotal one, the one that turned me from the profession I thought I loved. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
scrap brass, cage prisoners, prison ward Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Viet Cong, Phnom Penh, South Vietnamese, Khmer Rouge, North Vietnamese, Lon Nol, Quang Tri, Los Angeles, Jacques Leslie, Kampong Cham, Hong Kong, United States, Neak Leung, Ang Kheao, Chhang Song, New York Times, Quang Ngai, Chau Sau, Con Son, Khmer Republic, Ben Het, Dave Elliott, Bien Hoa, Mekong Delta, Mekong River New!
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
I did not realize until years after the event that it was the pivotal one, the one that turned me from the profession I thought I loved. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
scrap brass, cage prisoners, prison ward Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Viet Cong, Phnom Penh, South Vietnamese, Khmer Rouge, North Vietnamese, Lon Nol, Quang Tri, Los Angeles, Jacques Leslie, Kampong Cham, Hong Kong, United States, Neak Leung, Ang Kheao, Chhang Song, New York Times, Quang Ngai, Chau Sau, Con Son, Khmer Republic, Ben Het, Dave Elliott, Bien Hoa, Mekong Delta, Mekong River New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 1
book:
- The Quiet American (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) by Graham Greene on page 49
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