Book Review: War Torn

For the first time, nine women who made journalism history talk candidly about their professional and deeply personal experiences as young reporters who lived, worked, and loved surrounded by war. Their stories span a decade of America's involvement in Vietnam, from the earliest days of the conflict until the last U.S. helicopters left Saigon in 1975. 

They were gutsy risk-takers who saw firsthand what most Americans knew only from their morning newspapers or the evening news. Many had very particular reasons for going to Vietnam - some had to fight and plead to go - but others ended up there by accident. What happened to them was remarkable and important by any standard. Their lives became exciting beyond anything they had ever imagined, and the experience never left them. It was dangerous - one was wounded, and one was captured by the North Vietnamese - but the challenges they faced were uniquely rewarding.

They lived at full tilt, making an impact on all the people around them, from the orphan children in the streets to their fellow journalists and photographers to the soldiers they met and lived with in the field. They experienced anguish and heartbreak - and an abundance of friendship and love. These stories not only introduce a remarkable group of individuals but give an entirely new perspective on the most controversial conflict in our history. Vietnam changed their lives forever. Here they tell about it with all the candor, commitment, and energy that characterized their courageous reporting during the war.

Each of the nine journalists wrote a chapter about what they saw and felt in Indochina - their adventures, fears, excitement, and all the difficulties and loneliness. 

Here is how Denby Fawcett summarized her experience in Vietnam: "Vietnam is where I walked through a field of dead soldiers always looking ahead. Vietnam is where I saw butterflies dance in the sun while soldiers tried to kill one another.

"In the fear of death, I felt most alive. Vietnam is everything brave about me and everything that still makes me uncertain. Vietnam is where I lost my sense that everything was going to be all right. I pray to leave Vietnam, but I never can."

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the Vietnam War or the modern history of journalism.

Reader Reviews
A wonderful collection of the varied experiences of 9 female journalists who covered the Vietnam War and it's aftermath, as foreign correspondents. These amazing women were pioneers in their profession, working as journalists covering combat operations at a time when many in the news media still felt that was a job best left to male reporters.

I was struck by the common threads in all 9 contributors' personal accounts of their experiences in Vietnam, covering the War. All were profoundly affected by their time in Vietnam, not unlike soldiers who courageously served our country there so long ago. I was fascinated by their vivid descriptions of Saigon and the lives they led there, juxtaposed against the harsh and tragic reality of covering combat operations as they occurred.
~P.R. Newman

I served with the 173d Airborne Brigade in Nam during 1967-1968. The little French war correspondent spent a few times with my company and I just discovered this book. I bought it and will read it and remember those times all over again. I remember Catherine LeRoy well, she always wore a little bandana over her hair and most of us who humped the bush admired her strength to hang with us. Gutsy is all I can say.
~Skysoldier

Haunting, compelling, and elegiac memoirs comment not only on the war from the particular worldview of women; but also on the nature of youth in its energy, innocence and brevity; how long the rest of life can be; and loss. Never read anything else like it. 
~kkollwitz

This book was awesome because it gave individual stories of women who covered the Vietnam War. Many of them went to the front lines to get a story. They were the pioneers in war correspondence for women in the newsroom. They met their deadlines, risked their lives some didn't come back, while others had an interesting perspective and point of view of the war and what the soldiers felt and did to survive and how our government was putting a spin on the war.
~Susan Redden