Customer Reviews

Vietnam Inc.

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This is a superb collection of photos that depicts the ironies and inanities that resonated throughout the US misguided war in Vietnam. There are haunting images of casual and mindless brutality, there are wonderful juxtapositions and there are the unforgettable faces of those caught up in the war as they try to lead their lives amidst wanton destruction. This is a book about betrayal...the betrayal of American ideals by US leaders, betrayal of soldiers by arrogant leaders, betrayal of allies for geopolitical machinations and betrayal of a people who suffered more than can be imagined. These timeless photos help us remember a dark chapter in US history and the reissue of this collection in a beautifully produced volume is welcome. Having taught about the Vietnam war to students who were born well after the debacle, this is an extremely valuable resource to bring to life the lessons learned from books and lectures. These mesmerizing images are informed by Griffith's conviction that, " the overwhelming impression of Americans in Vietnam is one of stupidity rather than evil." Certainly some veterans may dislike the photos and text, but few books convey the banality of war so effectively. Griffiths elegantly combines his photos, text and perceptive insights on Vietamese society and in so doing sets a standard for war reportage that others still only aspire to. This book is a must for anyone interested in the Vietnam conflict and the consequences of war.

I spent three years in Vietnam as a GI from 1967-70. I saw plenty of combat and was on many operations throughout that time from places like Danang to Saigon to Plieku. I was also assigned for a time to the rear as an intelligence specialist. Reading this book and looking at the shockingly beautiful photographs bring home the realities of that war again. This is a great reference for those who are interested in the Vietnam war and the realities of often mis-directed American foreign policy. We entered that far away war sending ignorant young soldiers to a country with an alien culture and ended up fearing everything we did not understand, often destroying it We did strike out with deadly force against the perceived enemy often killing innocent Vietnamese just trying to get by in an untenable situation. We counted the innocent among the enemy dead. This book has unique insights backed up with stupendous black and white photographs.

From the summer of 1966 through the fall of 1968, I was fighting in some of the same areas of Vietnam that Phillip Jones Griffiths so dramatically photographed. The pictures in his book are a jolting reminder of that experience.
No other book, by a single photographer, comes as close to capturing what Vietnam was like as this does.
He has produced a powerful, informative and compassionate work of photojournalism, that is as immediate today as when it was orignally published.

Philip Jones Griffiths' very difficult photojournalistic essay, VIETNAM INC., is the result of his on site documentation of the Vietnam war as a photojournalist from 1968 to 1971 - that period of time when the war was at its worst from all sides. His image statements as well as his written comments remain some of the most pungent of the many books and works of art that were stimulated by the Vietnam conflict. This book was originally published in 1971 and caused such furor among government agencies who saw the work as an 'unAmerican' document condemning an ongoing war, among returned veterans still trying to make sense out of the chaos and mind destroying mission from which they returned bruised and battered physically and emotionally, among families of veterans who did not return from the war machine, and from those who wanted to believe that what we did to a little country called Vietnam was warranted in the desire to spread democracy.

All wars are captured in literature - whether in the eloquence of poetry from WW I and WW II and the many the novels - or films that painted America as a savior of needy people - or in music not the least of which is the 'War Requiem' by Sir Benjamin Britten - or in art. Philip Jones Griffiths used the camera to freeze the moments of the sadness, the sorrow, the errors, the devastation, and the pity of war. Now the book is back in print and should belong in every library of everyone who questions the validity of war. The photographs are brilliant achievements, sharing not only the panoply of reactions between the various branches of the military stationed in Vietnam, but also the varied reactions from the people whose country and homes were gradually being defoliated, scarred, completely destroyed or degraded. The faces of the soldiers are here as are the faces of the Vietnamese people and slowly viewing them page by page is a disturbing experience.

Gratefully many of the photographs from this book are now placed before the public eye in museum exhibitions, such as the current powerful one ENGAGED OBSERVERS at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Hopefully with this book being available once again and with the works in museums there will be enough of the message that whatever happened in Vietnam should never happen again. This in a challenging and very important portfolio whose images speak far louder than words. Grady Harp, July 10

DO not be swayed by the other reviewers...these photos are not taken out of context and given new, slanted meaning...this is not propaganda. This book is true, which is often hard to define, but for the people who still have an open mind and some historical context, this account will not set-off the ole BS meter. If you look closely, the people who paint this as propaganda, have their own narrative that they are trying to sell...but I think the pictures speak for themselves, as sometimes, there is no description needed; they prove the point by preserving that moment in time.

This is by far the best book ever published on the Vietnam War. Out of print for thirty years, it is finally back on the bookshelves, much to the chagrin of the militarists in Washington. It's the only book that completely expains the disaster of what happened in Vietnam. It should be required reading in every school and college in this country.

Read the words and learn. Look at the pictures and cry!

Our country must never repeat this.

Having served in South Vietnam in 1968-1969 I will attest that the war was wrong. It is hell, but I also believe that all sides in the conflict participated in acts not only of horrible cruelty but of unselfish generosity as well. In Vietnam, the civilian population in particular was placed in a terrible situation and suffered greatly. That said, don't look to this book for any truth or insight into the complexities of the war. It is hardly more than lies and fabrications. Some of the photo captions are laugh out loud hilarious - such as the one of the boy, maybe 10 years old, dressed in an ARVN uniform and surrounded by smiling ARVN soldiers. He carries no weapons and looks to be a mascot of sorts. However, the caption tells us that the boy was actually some kind of hero to the soldiers for killing his own mother and teacher, just the day before, because they were VC. On every page Americans are portrayed as beasts who killed, looted, raped, distributed porn and cigarettes to kids, and had questionable motives even when passing out candy or providing dental care to the population. In every photo of Americans in combat they are "running for cover" or about to murder some innocent civilian. The NVA and VC are kindly and heroic. The people in the middle hate the Americans and love the communists. Oh yeah, and the NVA never slaughtered innocent civilians when they took over Hue during Tet. This book's unbalanced version of how the war was conducted conflicts with my own experience as an infantryman in the 25th Infantry Division and with much of what I have studied about the war since. I must conclude it to be a work of imagination and political propaganda. I have a copy of the 1971 edition and am simply amazed that it is now being reprinted. I am not surprised that the new edition includes fresh analysis from that old Stalinist truth-teller Noam Chomsky.

Great photos by a great human being, who, sadly, left us last year.

Shows the horrible human suffering that war causes, as well as the beauty and resilience of the human spirit.

One photograph was especially telling. It shows a bunch of women and one man standing knee deep in swamp water, their faces covered with surgical masks, covered by an impromptu surgery tent, awaiting the next patient, who is arriving on a stretcher. Picture was taken in the U Minh Forest, September 15, 1970.

I'm a Vietnam veteran and I read this book many years ago - I hadn't thought of it in years, but it occurred to me recently to take another look. Yes, Mr. Griffiths is a very good photographer, but his text was far too biased. I'm not saying everything he said was wrong - yes, there was plenty of American stupidity in Vietnam - there's plenty of stupidity and cruelty in all wars - and yes, there were American atrocities in Vietnam. But the text is so biased and one-sided that it obscures the complex reality of the war. Not all Americans in Vietnam were blundering, heartless idiots; not all Vietnamese hated all Americans; and the communists were not all innocent peasants - some were vicious murderers. This book would have been far better with more balance.

As a combat veteran, I found this book to be the quintessential volume of compiled propaganda and myth perpetuating photos taken out of context and thrown together to form a body of misinformation that seems to further the personal opinions of a preconceived ideal. Through the efforts of presenting gloomy photographic technique and editorial deceit, the authors have formed the same old stereotypical crap that shows everything about the Vietnam experience to be mired in slime and couched in decadence. It was definitely not my VN experience or others I've known. But this book is a slick portrayal, as well as a betrayal to all of us who were really there. Any war is not pretty, but nowhere in this book is the awesome beauty of the people or country displayed..Here it is just a prefabricated Bummer.