The First Casualty: From the Crimea to Vietnam: The War Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist, and Myth Maker

by Phillip Knightley

Book Overview

The first casualty when war comes, is truth, said American Senator Hiram Johnson in 1917. In his gripping, now-classic history of war journalism, Phillip Knightley shows just how right Johnson was.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156311305
• ISBN13: 9780156311304
• Release Date: January 1976
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P
• Length: 465 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The victors don't just write the history, their propaganda..

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".

Deconstructing journalism

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.