Customer Reviews

The first casualty: From the Crimea to Vietnam : the war correspondent as hero, propagandist, and myth maker

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Philip Knightly puts together an exciting and informative history of the war correspondent. Stripping away the romanticism that such an occupation attracted, Knightly shows the grimmer side of covering wars, from having dispatches censored to being a willing collaborator in a conflict. He concentrates from the American Civil War to the Falkland Conflict. In it, Knightly snipes at Hemingway for not reporting during the Spanish Civil War but keeping material for his books while admiring Martha Glehorn's coverage of the Vietnam war (which later got her expelled from the country).

For those interested in Media Ethics and journalism, Knightly's book is highly recomended.

I first read this book about ten years ago. It has been a seminal book for me. Until I read this book I somewhat dismissively accepted the adage "The winners write the history."
After reading "The First Casualty" I understood that in fact the propaganda of the victors _becomes_ history. I also highy reccommend "Manufacturing Consent", "A People's History of the United States", "The Myth of the Great War" and "Overlord".

While I am still not finished reading it, Mr Knightly tells a needed story very similar in nature to Ron Milam's It was not a Gentleman's War. Kightly does a fine job describing the "fog of war" and my personal recollections of war are that the further removed from it, often the "fog" begins to clear a bit upon reflection. It is a shame that the death of a fellow human has to be placed on some sort of pedestal to justify those that ordered his death in pursuit of their cause.

Bud lley