VIET NAM AT PEACE

VIET NAM AT PEACE by Phillip Jones Griffiths
*
Éditeur ‏ : ‎ Trolley Books; 1er édition (31 décembre 2000)
Langue ‏ : ‎ Anglais
Relié ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
Poids de l'article ‏ : ‎ 2,59 Kilograms
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.26 x 2.54 x 24.77 cm
*
No one has charted the misfortunes of the innocent people caught up in the Viet Nam war as Philip Jones Griffiths. In just a few images he could manage to capture the destruction reaped upon the country and its inhabitants, and lucidly make sense of the atrocious injustices that afflicted both men, women and children, like holding a mirror to the conscience of the invaders.

Viet Nam At Peace is the monumental chronicle of a country struggling to emerge from the apocalyptic destruction of war, a destruction so seismic that it was thought vainly by many to be the end of all contemporary imperial aggression. It is Tolstoyan in its reach and emotional responses.

Philip Jones Griffiths, the author of Vietnam Inc. and Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Viet Nam, has visited Viet Nam 25 times since the end of the war. The first Westerner to travel by road from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City after the war, and later the Ho Chi Minh trail, he has amassed an unparalleled photographic record of the post-war transformation of the country.

From the first days of terrible hardships, as the joys of victory were quickly tempered by the reality of the extent of the destruction wreaked by the war, and the crippling effects of the US embargo, he has recorded an uncomfortably comprehensive view of the aftermath of war. This is not simply a record of shattered landscapes; it is also a record of the shattered hearts and minds, culture and hopes.

He has witnessed the limbless heroes, the Amerasian children, the boat people, and the re-emergence of the social problems of prostitution and drug addiction as the country embraces consumerism. Equally, here are recognised the horrified attempts by the Vietnamese themselves to curb the hydra of its worst excesses.
*
*
*
Personne n'a tracé les malheurs des innocents pris dans la guerre du Vietnam comme Philip Jones Griffiths. En quelques images, il parvient à saisir les destructions infligées au pays et à ses habitants, et donne un sens lucide aux injustices atroces qui frappent hommes, femmes et enfants, comme un miroir à la conscience des envahisseurs.

Viet Nam At Peace est la chronique monumentale d'un pays luttant pour sortir de la destruction apocalyptique de la guerre, une destruction si sismique qu'elle a été considérée en vain par beaucoup comme la fin de toute agression impériale contemporaine. C'est tolstoïen dans sa portée et ses réponses émotionnelles.

Philip Jones Griffiths, l'auteur de Vietnam Inc. et Agent Orange : Collateral Damage in Viet Nam, a visité le Viet Nam 25 fois depuis la fin de la guerre. Premier occidental à voyager par la route de Hanoï à Ho Chi Minh-Ville après la guerre, puis par la piste Ho Chi Minh, il a amassé un dossier photographique sans précédent sur la transformation du pays après la guerre.

Dès les premiers jours de terribles épreuves, alors que les joies de la victoire étaient rapidement tempérées par la réalité de l'étendue des destructions causées par la guerre et les effets paralysants de l'embargo américain, il a enregistré une vision inconfortablement complète des conséquences de guerre. Ce n'est pas simplement un record de paysages brisés; c'est aussi un témoignage des cœurs et des esprits brisés, de la culture et des espoirs.

Il a été témoin des héros sans membres, des enfants amérasiens, des boat people et de la réémergence des problèmes sociaux de la prostitution et de la toxicomanie alors que le pays embrasse le consumérisme. De même, ici sont reconnues les tentatives horrifiées des Vietnamiens eux-mêmes pour freiner l'hydre de ses pires excès.
*
*
*
Viet Nam At Peace is the monumental chronicle of a country struggling to emerge from the apocalyptic destruction of war, a destruction so seismic that it was thought vainly by many to be the end of all contemporary imperial aggression. It is Tolstoyan in its reach and emotional responses. Philip Jones Griffiths, the author of Vietnam Inc. and Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Viet Nam, has visited Viet Nam 25 times since the end of the war. The first Westerner to travel by road from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City after the war, and later the Ho Chi Minh trail, he has amassed an unparalleled photographic record of the post-war transformation of the country. From the first days of terrible hardships, as the joys of victory were quickly tempered by the reality of the extent of the destruction wreaked by the war, and the crippling effects of the US embargo, he has recorded an uncomfortably comprehensive view of the aftermath of war. This is not simply a record of shattered landscapes; it is also a record of the shattered hearts and minds, culture and hopes. He has witnessed the limbless heroes, the Amerasian children, the boat people, and the re-emergence of the social problems of prostitution and drug addiction as the country embraces consumerism. Equally, here are recognised the horrified attempts by the Vietnamese themselves to curb the hydra of its worst excesses.