Rebel Journalism: The Writings of Wilfred Burchett

by John Pilger (Foreword), George Burchett (Editor), Nick Shimmin (Editor)

This book is an anthology of the writing of Wilfred Burchett, perhaps the greatest journalist and war correspondent Australia has ever produced. He was also one of the most controversial figures of the Cold War, both in Australia and overseas. Burchett published more than 30 books, and this volume brings together extracts from most of these, spanning the entire breadth of his career, from before World War 2, through Hiroshima, Eastern Europe, Korea, Russia, Laos, Cambodia, China, Vietnam, Angola, Rhodesia and other areas from which Burchett reported. The book presents these fields of reportage chronologically, and thus serves not only as a significant historical overview of the period, but also as a reader in Cold War journalism.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Journalism, Politics

338 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 2007

About the author

John Richard Pilger was an Australian journalist and documentary maker. He had twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US. Based in London, he is known for his polemical campaigning style: "Secretive power loathes journalists who do their job, who push back screens, peer behind façades, lift rocks. Opprobrium from on high is their badge of honour."

Pilger had received human rights and journalism awards, as well as honorary doctorates. He was also a visiting professor at Cornell University in New York.

Reviews

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Burchett looks at communism through rose coloured glasses for the most part. He wrote about Nam from the north. Burma, Korea (an article about germ warfare tactics the Americans used is very interesting) and other countries all get a go too. Burchett was also one of the first people into Hiroshima after the bomb. A collection of articles and pickings from books and essays from right across his career.