Tim Hetherington: Infidel [Paperback]

Tim Hetherington (Photographer), Sebastian Junger (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2010

Infidel is an intimate portrait of a single U.S. platoon, assigned to an outpost in the Korengal Valley-an area considered one of the most dangerous Afghan postings in the war against the Taliban-but it is as much about love and male vulnerability as it is about bravery and war. Embedded with writer Sebastian Junger, and shooting over the course of one year, photographer Tim Hetherington made a series of images that prove surprisingly tender in their depiction of camaraderie and vulnerability (among the most moving is a series of the platoon sleeping). Alongside revealing interviews with Hetherington's subjects and an introduction by Junger (with whom Hetherington co-directed the award-winning film Restrepo, about the work of the battalion), the book is also illustrated with graphics of the tattoos the soldiers gave each other in the camp. The title Infidel is taken from the tattoo the men adopted as a badge of their comradeship. Warm, moving and full of humor, this book is a tribute to the "rough men ready to do violence on our behalf" and a provocative contribution to the documentation of war in our time.
Tim Hetherington was born in Liverpool, U.K., and took up photojournalism after studying literature at Oxford University. Five years spent living in Liberia resulted in the book Long Story Bit By Bit: Liberia Retold (2009), and awards for his photojournalism include World Press Photo of the Year 2007 (for his dramatic war photography from Afghanistan), the Rory Peck Award for Features (2008) and an Alfred I duPont Award for excellence in broadcast journalism while on assignment with Sebastian Junger for ABC News (2009). As a filmmaker, he has worked as both a cameraman and director/producer. Restrepo won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. He is based in New York and is a contributing photographer for Vanity Fair magazine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Chris Boot (September 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1905712189
• ISBN-13: 978-1905712182
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.7 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #52 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Photo Essays
  • #81 in Books > History > Military > Afghan War

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rare Glimpse of Honest Men September 23, 2010

By R. Bryan

Format:Paperback

Pictures of combat and the men who fight in them have been taken as long as the camera has been invented and war was waged. Many times, you get enlightened photos and bland descriptions. Not so with INFIDEL. This is the most honest photo book of soldiers on the shelf today. I own quite a few combat photo books. None of them grabbed me like this one.

Mr. Hetherington's photos capture exactly what he says he wanted to capture: men as they truly are when they're stuck on remote outpost and no one but each other to count on-for everything. The photos capture almost every single emotion a soldier could feel.

You will get honest shots of honest men who spent 15 months in hell. In fact, so honest that you almost feel like you're standing beside the photojournalist. They are stunning, gut wrenching and without doubt, a beautiful tribute to the subjects he captured.

Be sure to read every word from the Introduction to the last page. No words are wasted in this book. The icing on the this terrific cake is the commentary in back about the photographs. I just wish it was a bigger book!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable! September 26, 2010

By J Mace

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Hetherington's book provides a never before seen look into the life of a platoon during a deployment to the mountains of Afghanistan. It follows 2nd platoon of Battle Company, 2/503rd, 173rd airborne on their 2007 to 2008 deployment to the Korengal Valley of eastern Afghanistan. This is the same unit as followed in Sebastian Junger's "War", as well as the documentary "Restrepo", which both Junger and Hetherington directed. This book is mostly a photo collection of several series' Hetherington made while out with second platoon, including pictures of tattoo's the men got while out in Afghanistan, the men sleeping (which shows an interesting and rarely seen soft and vulnerable side of these men), as well as the men fighting. It stays away from the typical military style book, where it actually doesn't focus on only the fighting, but instead the whole spectrum of what goes on during a deployment: the boredom, the lifestyle, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And to top it off, at the end, he has AMAZING interviews of sorts from different men from the platoon talking about everything imaginable, including what they think fear is, how they cope with what they have seen and done, and what its like living with the same 40 people for 15 months. In the end, this book provides the reader with an interesting view of what its like to be a soldier on the front lines, and it is well worth anyones time.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars INFIDEL - Infinite September 26, 2010

By mari

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Hetheringon was a seasoned War photojournalist before he embedded with Battle Co. in the Korengal Valley in the high Hindu Kush Mts, of north eastern Afghanistan, called "The Most Dangerous Place on Earth." He spent a total of 5 harrowing months with the platoon during their brutal 15-month deployment in the Korengal, also known as 'the Valley of Death"
And Battle CO. was 'the point of the spear', a handful of soldiers on a spit of mountain top - a 2 hour hike up the mountains and the only thing between the Taliban and the rest of the fire bases: no electricity, no running water, no hot food - the only thing they had a lot of was firefights. They experienced 20% of all the fighting in Afghanistan...
Tim's inner eye captures every aspect of young warriors in the hell of war from the midst of battle to the utter exhaustion to the deep comaraderie to the levity to the shattering loss of 'brothers' to the innocent faces of the sleeping 'boys."

There's a reason he won, beating out over 80,000 entries, the World Press Photo of the Year 2007 - with a photo he took of one of Battle Co.s soldiers following a long siege. He is a consumate photojouranlist. The old saw, "one photo is worth a thousand words" certainly hold true for this book, full of unstaged, as is happens, photos of men in war...our men.

If you want to get a raw, unvarnished look at what war is for warriors in conflict and what these men accomplished and endured in the wilderness of the Afghan mountains, where the terrain can be as deadly as the Taliban - get "INFIDEL". It belongs, for all time, on everyone's book shelf - or coffee table...or both.

as it says above in the product description, Tim also was awarded: "the Rory Peck Award for Features (2008) and an Alfred I duPont Award for excellence in broadcast journalism while on assignment with Sebastian Junger for ABC News (2009). As a filmmaker, he has worked as both a cameraman and director/producer. Restrepo won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. He is based in New York and is a contributing photographer for Vanity Fair magazine. "

The movie they wrote and directed together, RESTREPO, has/is been playing in select theaters across the country to rave reviews. The ABC documentary is on YouTube, along with several video clips of their time in the Korengal. A search will bring up hundreds of interviews and the trailor. RESTREPO will also be aired by Nat'l Geo in Nov.

Get the book: INFIDEL. It's a treatise on war that will be a classic, relevent for as long as there are wars - and young men sent to fight them - and beyond.