A Portrait of Viet Nam [Paperback]

Lou Dematteis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1996

After a long period of isolation, Vietnam has begun to open its doors to the rest of the world. The nation has been experiencing an internal liberalization which is causing dramatic changes in economic, social and artistic spheres. Focusing his camera on the daily lives of ordinary people, Lou Dematteis documents a vibrant, rapidly-changing country of over 72 million people.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Photojournalist Dematteis took the photographs in this collection on trips to Vietnam from 1992 to 1995. He chose to photograph ordinary Vietnamese going about their daily lives during a period when their country was opening its doors to foreigners after a long period of isolation. As Dematteis notes in his introduction, many books and motion pictures have "taught us much about the American War in Indochina, but precious little about the Vietnamese people themselves." These photographs give a kaleidoscopic view of the people and places of modern Vietnam. But it is the images of the lingering destruction caused by the war that will move American readers of a certain age: a disabled Vietnamese veteran staring out from his hospital bed, a child suffering from the effects of Agent Orange, an American veteran laying incense on the grave of a former enemy. Recommended for public libraries.?Caroline Mitchell, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; First Edition edition (July 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393314294
• ISBN-13: 978-0393314298
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,050,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

San Francisco Bay Area photojournalist and documentary photographer Lou Dematteis has covered issues of social, political, economic and environmental importance for the past 30 years. A former staff photographer for Reuters News Pictures, he was based in Managua, Nicaragua, from 1985 to 1990, where he covered the wars and civil unrest which raged in the region. He went on to serve ten years as the San Francisco photo bureau chief for Reuters. He has published three books and his photos have appeared in every major U.S. newspaper and in every major news magazine in the United States and Europe. An award-winning photographer, he has received a citation from World Press Photo and his photos have been included in the New York Times and National Press Photographers Association Pictures of the Year. In 1990 he was named one of the top 80 photojournalists in the world. His work has been exhibited on four continents and in 2007 he received a grant from the Open Society Institute to exhibit his work from the Ecuadoran Amazon in the communities in Ecuador most affected by the contamination left in the region as a result of Texaco's oil extraction practices.