Larry Burrows: Vietnam

In the heat of battle, in the devastated countryside, among troops and civilians equally hurt by the

savagery of war, Larry Burrows photographed the conflict in Vietnam from 1962, the earliest days of American involvement, until 1971, when he died in a helicopter shot down on the Vietnam–Laos border. His images, published in Life magazine, brought the war home, scorching the consciousness of the public and inspiring much of the anti-war sentiment that convulsed American society in the 1960s.

To see these photo essays today, gathered in one volume and augmented by unpublished images from the Burrows archive, is to experience (or to relive), with extraordinary immediacy, both the war itself and the effect and range of Larry Burrows’s gifts—his courage: to shoot “The Air War,” he strapped himself and his camera to the open doorway of a plane . . . his reporter’s instinct: accompanying the mission of the helicopter Yankee Papa 13, he captured the transformation of a young marine crew chief experiencing the death of fellow marines . . . and his compassion: in “Operation Prairie” and “A Degree of Disillusion” he published profoundly affecting images of exhausted, bloodied troops and maimed Vietnamese children, both wounded, physically and psychologically, by the ever-escalating war.

The photographs Larry Burrows took in Vietnam, magnificently reproduced in this volume, are brutal, poignant, and utterly truthful, a stunning example of photojournalism that recorded history and achieved the level of great art. Indeed, in retrospect, says David Halberstam in his moving introduction, “Larry Burrows was as much historian as photographer and artist. Because of his work, generations born long after he died will be able to witness and understand and feel the terrible events he recorded. This book is his last testament.”

With 150 illustrations, 100 in full color

Larry Burrows was embedded with my husband Sgt. Albert J. Caputo, U.S.M.C.(Ret) and his squad in early October 1966. My husband was wounded on October 16, 1966 near the Demilitarized zone.

He often spoke of Mr. Burrows courage and wondered what became of the pictures.

Imagine our surprise when the book came out and my husbands picture is on the cover. That picture was also choosen to represent the Marines during the Viet Nam War. It is the gallery of the new Marine Museum at Quantico, Va.

This book brought back many memories to my husband. If you were in Viet Nam you will appreciate the reality of these pictures.

Wow, how many photographers photographed the Vietnam War in Color? Not sure exactly how many, but Larry Burrows was the first I've seen. Talk about being in the middle of the action, he was always there. Really intense photos and they all say so much. A must have if you are a photojournalist or documentarian. Too bad he died there (Laos I think). Would love to have seen more work from him.

I highly reccomend this book. The photographs in this book attest to Larry Burrow's commitment to document this war. Not one picture is alike in any sense of the word. One second you're looking at a Buddhist protest in Saigon, then you flip the page and see Westmoreland and McNamara stepping off a plane, ushering in the Johnson administration's phase of the war. The most harrowing photos are actually from the early days of the war, of ARVN troops in the delta. Of course, the pictures from Khe Sanh will tug at the heartstrings of any American. Purchase this book.

I could be verbose and describe the virtues of this book in great detail, but the pictures in this amazing work speak much louder than anything that I could write. He was a man who gave his life for his craft, and this book is a powerful tribute to that craft. Absolutely stunning and indispensable to anyone that wants to understand "that war" and the power of the visual image.

Larry Burrows was and still is a benchmark which other photojournalists should strive to attain. Great book. Buy it.