What do you think?
Rate this book
Unreasonable Behaviour: An Autobiography
The updated autobiography published for McCullin's 80th birthday.
From the construction of the Berlin Wall through every conflict up to the Falklands War, photographer Don McCullin has left a trail of iconic images.
At the Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, McCullin’s photography made him a new kind of hero. The flow of stories every Sunday took a generation of readers beyond the insularity of post-war Britain and into the recesses of domestic deprivation: when in 1968, a year of political turmoil, the Beatles wanted new pictures, they insisted on using McCullin; when Francis Bacon, whose own career had emerged with depiction of the ravages of the flesh, wanted a portrait, he turned to McCullin.
McCullin now spends his days quietly in a Somerset village, where he photographs the landscape and arranges still-lifes – a far cry from the world’s conflict zones and the war-scarred north London of Holloway Road where his career began.
In October 2015, it will be twenty-five years since the first publication of his autobiography, Unreasonable Behaviour – a harrowing memoir combining his photojournalism with his lifework.
The time is right to complete McCullin’s story.
From the construction of the Berlin Wall through every conflict up to the Falklands War, photographer Don McCullin has left a trail of iconic images.
At the Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, McCullin’s photography made him a new kind of hero. The flow of stories every Sunday took a generation of readers beyond the insularity of post-war Britain and into the recesses of domestic deprivation: when in 1968, a year of political turmoil, the Beatles wanted new pictures, they insisted on using McCullin; when Francis Bacon, whose own career had emerged with depiction of the ravages of the flesh, wanted a portrait, he turned to McCullin.
McCullin now spends his days quietly in a Somerset village, where he photographs the landscape and arranges still-lifes – a far cry from the world’s conflict zones and the war-scarred north London of Holloway Road where his career began.
In October 2015, it will be twenty-five years since the first publication of his autobiography, Unreasonable Behaviour – a harrowing memoir combining his photojournalism with his lifework.
The time is right to complete McCullin’s story.
362 pages, Hardcover
First published October 18, 1990
68 people are currently reading
916 people want to read
About the author
Don McCullin
52 books37 followersDon McCullin grew up in north London and was evacuated in 1940 to Somerset. He failed the eleven-plus examination and went to Tollington Park Secondary Modern School. He won a trade art scholarship to the Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts and Buildings. His father, who was an invalid, died, aged forty and McCullin was forced to find work to earn money for the family. He became a pantry boy on the London, Midland and Scottish Railway dining cars, travelling between London and Manchester. In 1950 he went to work in a cartoon animation studio in Mayfair before the Observer newspaper bought one of his gangland pictures and set him on the road as a photojournalist. He moved to the Sunday Times, where he worked for eighteen years. His photographs of almost every major conflict in his adult lifetime until the Falklands war provide some of the most potent images of the twentieth century. His pictures are in major museum collections all over the world. He is the holder of many honours and awards, including the C.B.E. His home is in a Somerset village.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
December 28, 2020
Don McCullin was a photographer,who worked for British newspaper,the Sunday Times.War was his specialty and he repeatedly risked his life taking photographs in combat zones.
He went to a lot of wars including Vietnam,Cambodia,Biafra,Lebanon,former East Pakistan,Cyprus,Afghanistan,El Salvador and the Arab Israel wars,among others.
His experiences make for harrowing reading.He has included some of his best photographs in the book,which graphically illustrate the horrors of war.
One,in particular,caught my attention.In Beirut,teenage boys play music and laugh while a corpse lies in the foreground.
In another one,an African soldier holds a gun to the head of his captive,as he is about to shoot him.In still another,an American soldier throws a grenade in Vietnam and seconds later,loses his hand,after getting shot.
In Uganda,he was captured and was almost certain that he would be executed,before getting a miraculous reprieve.Some of his colleagues were not so lucky,and he watched them die in distant places.
But he couldn't stop risking his neck.If there was a war anywhere,he wanted to be there.Eventually,in El Salvador,his right arm was badly injured.This impaired his ability to take photographs.
But,as he risked his life for the newspaper,the paper's ownership changed hands.Now,it wanted glamour for its magazine section rather than pictures of human suffering in distant wars.
Eventually,he had to resign and move to advertising to keep earning.His personal life unraveled when his first wife died and the second one left him.
He was left all alone as he recalled all the human suffering he had witnessed during his career.He also wondered if it had been worth it to take so many risks,just for getting some photographs.
An interesting book,which would be hard to forget.
He went to a lot of wars including Vietnam,Cambodia,Biafra,Lebanon,former East Pakistan,Cyprus,Afghanistan,El Salvador and the Arab Israel wars,among others.
His experiences make for harrowing reading.He has included some of his best photographs in the book,which graphically illustrate the horrors of war.
One,in particular,caught my attention.In Beirut,teenage boys play music and laugh while a corpse lies in the foreground.
In another one,an African soldier holds a gun to the head of his captive,as he is about to shoot him.In still another,an American soldier throws a grenade in Vietnam and seconds later,loses his hand,after getting shot.
In Uganda,he was captured and was almost certain that he would be executed,before getting a miraculous reprieve.Some of his colleagues were not so lucky,and he watched them die in distant places.
But he couldn't stop risking his neck.If there was a war anywhere,he wanted to be there.Eventually,in El Salvador,his right arm was badly injured.This impaired his ability to take photographs.
But,as he risked his life for the newspaper,the paper's ownership changed hands.Now,it wanted glamour for its magazine section rather than pictures of human suffering in distant wars.
Eventually,he had to resign and move to advertising to keep earning.His personal life unraveled when his first wife died and the second one left him.
He was left all alone as he recalled all the human suffering he had witnessed during his career.He also wondered if it had been worth it to take so many risks,just for getting some photographs.
An interesting book,which would be hard to forget.
February 8, 2021
WOF! Don McCullin, a photojournalist, has covered the globe! Nigeria (the Biafra crisis), Uganda (arrested and imprisoned), Paraguay, Venezuela, Berlin, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, India (during the separation of Bangladesh from Pakistan), Vietnam, Cambodia, Northern Ireland, Guatemala, Afghanistan… well he never made it to the Soviet Union (in this book at any rate).
This autobiography recounts his many incidents along with photographs. I was taken in by his descriptions of his impoverished upbringing during World War II in London. Both he and his sister were evacuated during the blitz and the threatened Nazi invasion. At some stage after the war, he acquired a camera and his career slowly took off.
He tells us how he is haunted by some of the pictures he took in war zones, more so those of children in Biafra. I would have liked more of this intensive introspection because the book takes us rapidly from one danger area to the next and it gets both overwhelming and cursory. We do sense his troubled existence and his being perpetually in motion – in search of the next trouble spot when arriving back home. He was definitely suffering from PTSD.
The book is exciting to read and it is non-stop. I did feel sorry for his wife and children. How much real time did they get to spend with their husband/father over the long years, not to mention the anguish of worrying about the dangers he was exposed to in these far away lands.
As a brief warning the ending is tragically sad. As of this writing Don McCullin is 85 years old and living in England.
This autobiography recounts his many incidents along with photographs. I was taken in by his descriptions of his impoverished upbringing during World War II in London. Both he and his sister were evacuated during the blitz and the threatened Nazi invasion. At some stage after the war, he acquired a camera and his career slowly took off.
He tells us how he is haunted by some of the pictures he took in war zones, more so those of children in Biafra. I would have liked more of this intensive introspection because the book takes us rapidly from one danger area to the next and it gets both overwhelming and cursory. We do sense his troubled existence and his being perpetually in motion – in search of the next trouble spot when arriving back home. He was definitely suffering from PTSD.
The book is exciting to read and it is non-stop. I did feel sorry for his wife and children. How much real time did they get to spend with their husband/father over the long years, not to mention the anguish of worrying about the dangers he was exposed to in these far away lands.
As a brief warning the ending is tragically sad. As of this writing Don McCullin is 85 years old and living in England.
August 17, 2025
Don McCullin CBE is a British photojournalist who covered some of the major global conflicts from the second half of the 20th century, as well social documentary photography focusing on poverty and unemployment in the lower classes, and the African AIDS crisis. Born in the mid thirties, the book starts off briefly with his early years; The London Blitz; RAF national service (in which, in 1956, he became a photographer's assistant after being posted in the Suez Canal); and his early career working freelance for the Observer where his reputation as a talented photographer was taking off; before we get to the wars and conflicts: including photojournalism from the likes of Cyprus (in 1964 gaining the World Press Photo Award ), the Congo, Jerusalem, Vietnam, the Republic of Biafra, Cambodia, Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, and El Salvador. It was an utterly fascinating, and sometimes extremely shocking account of his experiences (some of his images from the suffering in Biafra are burned into my memory for life). I was thinking the book would be something like Like Robert Capa's Slightly out of focus, and as great as that book was, this just feels even greater, and more important.
March 2, 2019
Exceptional work from a man who has influenced my photography in so many ways. A life well lived, never saying no to a new adventure and seeing the world through new eyes each time.
September 23, 2024
“Clouting was an enduring memory of that evacuation. I was clouted by the schoolmasters, clouted by the kids in the playground, and clouted when I got home. I was building up a tidy store of resentment and mistrust.”
It’s incredible to think that McCullin will turn 89 next month and yet he has probably escaped death in more countries than most people get to visit in a lifetime. He got his break in 1959 with an eye catching image which made it onto the pages of the “Observer”. It was a picture broadly relating to the killing of a police officer in London’s east end and since then he went from strength to strength.
“What’s this all about?” I asked a mercenary. ‘Oh, they’re killing these guys. You’ll see them in a minute. There’s a real nasty black gendarmerie chief, a real evil bastard. He’s doing away with that lot. He’s been shooting them all morning he takes them to the river bank and shoots them in the back of the head, then kicks them into the water for the crocs.”
Considering his inauspicious origins of growing up dyslexic in dirt poor conditions in London’s war torn council houses, he left school at 15 with no qualifications after his dad died. But the quality of his writing is exceptionally high and to think he was a war photographer rather than a journalist, and also you realise that in many ways he was in far more danger in the many combat zones he ended up in, because not only was he not a trained combat soldier, but he rarely if ever carried a gun.
Without doubt McCullin was a total maverick in the genuine sense of the word. Owing to his rough and deprived background, he stormed into the bourgeois world and openly challenged and destroyed many of their cold pleasantries and faux niceties in order to get to the black heart of his chosen subject, something which obviously comes at a heavy, long-term price which all too often falls on those closest to him.
“None of the real world judgments seem to apply. What’s peace, what’s war, what’s dead, what’s living, what’s right, what’s wrong? You don’t know the answers. You just live, if you can, from day to day.”
His bold, confronting style delivers some real enduring treasures. Some of the danger and the situations he puts himself into are quite incredible and put me in mind of Kapuscinski who seemed to revel in similar dalliances with danger. The Chaos, blind luck and extraordinary circumstances he found himself in time and time again are simply incredible. His account of his time in Biafra has to be one of the most poignant and memorable pieces of war journalism I have come across.
“My dick was bleeding like a pig but it had only been nicked by a piece of fragmentation. The more serious area was my right leg, which had taken four mortar fragments, one in the knee joint. I had another wound just above the knee of my left leg. I still could not hear properly. Someone jabbed a morphine needle into my right leg and the next thing I knew was being dumped unceremoniously with the other wounded on to the back of an open lorry.”
We also hear about some of his exploits with some of his friends in the journalism game like Eric Newby, Norman Lewis and Simon Winchester. His many travels find him encountering cannibals in PNG, getting arrested, imprisoned, beaten and deported by Amin’s Uganda, being temporarily blinded by CS gas and shot with a rubber bullet in the back in Belfast by the British army. Kicked out of Vietnam, a death warrant issued for him in Beirut and we see that Thatcher’s government refused to give him a press pass for the Falklands War, and then there’s the image of the bullet taken by his camera from a Khmer Rouge AK-47.
“I’m going to die here, I thought. This is where my life will end, in a dark and dingy African killing house.”
There are many incredible things about McCullin, so many of his close friends and colleagues lost to so many conflicts around the world and so many near misses, he somehow managed to escape time and time again. All of this is recounted in simple, powerful and relatable prose combined with world class photography and tales of riveting adventure where danger seems to be the only constant companion. At no point does he glamorise or sensationalise his experiences, and that level of restraint makes this all the more compelling. This is a dark, poignant and at times saddening account.
“My wars, the way I’ve lived, is like an incurable disease. It is like the promise of a tremendous high and the certainty of a bad dream. It is something I both fear and love, but it’s something I can’t do without.”
August 7, 2022
In my teenage years, I became obsessed with Vietnam war films. I devoured everyone I could come across. Big or small budgets made no difference to me. But these films were never going to entirely capture what it was like for the men and women who served out there. So I turned to the literary world in hopes of gleaming just a fraction of what it was like to have had boots on the ground. As I scoured the available information a set of photos came up time and again. With just a little digging the name Dom McCullin came up. His images of the war seemed to capture some of the true horrors of what they faced in a raw and unfiltered way that I think the general public had not really been exposed to before. A great many years later I was able to go to an exhibit of his works this time however it was of the landscape of his home county. As it turns out just a few miles away from where I live. It was fascinating to see someone's work switched to a completely different subject matter. Yet his work still had the same ability to make you stop and just stare as if held by some unseen force.
So this year when my birthday rolled around again I was lucky enough to receive a copy of his autobiography as a presant. Maybe in some ways, It was a good thing to have been going into this book fairly blind. Whilst his images will forever be in my mind the man himself was an enigma. I was curious to see how he would compare to others who had gone off to war. Not to fight however but to report back in one medium or another to the general public as to what was taking place. But before we could get to any of that McCullin would take us way back to the start of his childhood which was also in its own way shaped by a war. Having been evacuated during the blitz and then come back again long before the bombs stopped falling. But then again maybe it was a series of chance events that led him to have a camera in his hand. Perhaps for some, there is an inevitably to where life will lead them. Ether way McCullin tries to deliver a narrative of his life that doesn't shy away from some of the darkest times in more recent human history. But I suppose when you are present for so many of them maybe it is in some small party your duty to tell others of the place you have been and things you have seen.
Much like his photos his use of words has a way of completely capturing the reader. We are drawn into these places with him and look through his eyes. I was astounded to learn of the great many countries he had traveled to in their worst moments as a photojournalist. But also this need he had deep down to go. This is a man who does not shy away when most of us would happily turn and run the other way. He has this nature that makes him want to turn and capture forever these moments of deep despair and grief. To show us what it truly means to go and face the horrors of war. I wonder if in a world where games such as call of duty and battlefield have become global smash hits for those living in safe countries behind giant screens we have lost the ability to have the impact McCullins photos had back in the day. But then again I still have a very guttural reaction when I see them so maybe reality still can pack a powerful punch. This is also a man who doesn't really shy away from his own miss doings. And whilst this does not paint him as some terrible person it allows us to gain a little more insight into him as a whole.
For me, there is a very interesting moment in the book where he questions his choice of profession. Not through any miss givings about the quilty of his photos but that of his subject matter. Is he right to go and win awards and accolades from moments of time captured when people are suffering so greatly? And do we as the voyeurs of such works shoulder this fate too? I know the reaction I have to his works but I am none the wiser as to whether the subject of them are still alive or died long ago in a place whose name I struggle to pronounce. It is safe to say that it is not often I am struck by such a moral dilemma whilst reading a book. But for me, that can only be a good thing. It was fascinating to learn about his life and its ups and down and to understand his body of work in a much greater context. I can also say that it is maybe unfair to compare any of the war journalists I have read about. They all go for their own reason even if a great many come back suffering similar inflictions.
So this year when my birthday rolled around again I was lucky enough to receive a copy of his autobiography as a presant. Maybe in some ways, It was a good thing to have been going into this book fairly blind. Whilst his images will forever be in my mind the man himself was an enigma. I was curious to see how he would compare to others who had gone off to war. Not to fight however but to report back in one medium or another to the general public as to what was taking place. But before we could get to any of that McCullin would take us way back to the start of his childhood which was also in its own way shaped by a war. Having been evacuated during the blitz and then come back again long before the bombs stopped falling. But then again maybe it was a series of chance events that led him to have a camera in his hand. Perhaps for some, there is an inevitably to where life will lead them. Ether way McCullin tries to deliver a narrative of his life that doesn't shy away from some of the darkest times in more recent human history. But I suppose when you are present for so many of them maybe it is in some small party your duty to tell others of the place you have been and things you have seen.
Much like his photos his use of words has a way of completely capturing the reader. We are drawn into these places with him and look through his eyes. I was astounded to learn of the great many countries he had traveled to in their worst moments as a photojournalist. But also this need he had deep down to go. This is a man who does not shy away when most of us would happily turn and run the other way. He has this nature that makes him want to turn and capture forever these moments of deep despair and grief. To show us what it truly means to go and face the horrors of war. I wonder if in a world where games such as call of duty and battlefield have become global smash hits for those living in safe countries behind giant screens we have lost the ability to have the impact McCullins photos had back in the day. But then again I still have a very guttural reaction when I see them so maybe reality still can pack a powerful punch. This is also a man who doesn't really shy away from his own miss doings. And whilst this does not paint him as some terrible person it allows us to gain a little more insight into him as a whole.
For me, there is a very interesting moment in the book where he questions his choice of profession. Not through any miss givings about the quilty of his photos but that of his subject matter. Is he right to go and win awards and accolades from moments of time captured when people are suffering so greatly? And do we as the voyeurs of such works shoulder this fate too? I know the reaction I have to his works but I am none the wiser as to whether the subject of them are still alive or died long ago in a place whose name I struggle to pronounce. It is safe to say that it is not often I am struck by such a moral dilemma whilst reading a book. But for me, that can only be a good thing. It was fascinating to learn about his life and its ups and down and to understand his body of work in a much greater context. I can also say that it is maybe unfair to compare any of the war journalists I have read about. They all go for their own reason even if a great many come back suffering similar inflictions.
April 21, 2019
I was blown away by the Don McCullin exhibition at the Tate Britain & so I’m devouring his autobiography... I also splashed out on the impressive book of pictures that accompanies the exhibition; beautifully shot, harrowing, very occasionally amusing pictures from a lifetime of photo journalism.
This is a relentless story of harrowing assignments & a rising conviction of the horror & futility of war, interspersed with occasional, amusing anecdotes drawing out the contrast between the brutality of his work and so-called civilised western society... Don McCullin comes across as fascinated & hooked by war, instinctively creative & human, & compassionate, desperate not to intrude or dehumanise...
How did Don McCullin survive? Has he ever had PTSD? Wounded in an explosion that killed the man next to him, caught in the crossfire more than once, imprisoned in a jail where others were being clubbed to death with a sledgehammer, being close by when other journalists (& friends) were killed by missiles or bullets & frequently only narrowly escaping with his life, he’s had a charmed, horrifying life, despite his best efforts!
I found it ironic that I was reading about Don McCullin’s time in 1971 in the Bogside area of Derry in Northern Ireland, on Good Friday 2019, the day after a resurgence of serious unrest in Derry resulted in the death of a journalist, doing exactly what McCullin was doing 38 years ago…
McCullin comes across missionaries more than once & it’s shocking to hear how deceitful, obstructive, knowingly self-serving & inhuman they are; destroying whole communities, tribes & ways of life in the guise of civilising salvation; no christianity I recognise here, just wilful destruction for selfish gain, less missionary, more mercenary. The contrast with McCullin’s caution, sensitivity, compassion & insistence on preserving dignity & autonomy when taking people’s pictures is stark.
To leave Vietnam for the last time, in 1975, having been unable to get into the country because his name was on a blacklist, McCullin, the brutalised war photographer, joins a flight evacuating orphans & looks after 2 children, cradling one in his arms, the whole way back.
As the book goes on McCullin often talks of having to not let his imagination run away with him (although when he does there’s probably a risk of that he’s facing real dangers just as bad as his imagination can conjure up) & of wrestling with bad thoughts… he yearns for home when he’s away in the thick of the action but can’t settle when he returns…
Throughout, he’s evaluating & re-evaluating his life & what it means; he thought the book might lay his demons to rest but it just made him feel awful about the breakup of his marriage… everything fell apart, his health, his marriage & his work dried up with the changes to newspapers’ priorities in the eighties. The updated preface reveals things had improved in the years since the original publication but you can’t help but wonder that no more permanent damage was done following a life of such brutal horror & ever-present risk.
Brutalised by violence, immunised against danger, McCullin never seems to lose his compassion. That is the story of this book, this man. It gives me hope
This is a relentless story of harrowing assignments & a rising conviction of the horror & futility of war, interspersed with occasional, amusing anecdotes drawing out the contrast between the brutality of his work and so-called civilised western society... Don McCullin comes across as fascinated & hooked by war, instinctively creative & human, & compassionate, desperate not to intrude or dehumanise...
How did Don McCullin survive? Has he ever had PTSD? Wounded in an explosion that killed the man next to him, caught in the crossfire more than once, imprisoned in a jail where others were being clubbed to death with a sledgehammer, being close by when other journalists (& friends) were killed by missiles or bullets & frequently only narrowly escaping with his life, he’s had a charmed, horrifying life, despite his best efforts!
I found it ironic that I was reading about Don McCullin’s time in 1971 in the Bogside area of Derry in Northern Ireland, on Good Friday 2019, the day after a resurgence of serious unrest in Derry resulted in the death of a journalist, doing exactly what McCullin was doing 38 years ago…
McCullin comes across missionaries more than once & it’s shocking to hear how deceitful, obstructive, knowingly self-serving & inhuman they are; destroying whole communities, tribes & ways of life in the guise of civilising salvation; no christianity I recognise here, just wilful destruction for selfish gain, less missionary, more mercenary. The contrast with McCullin’s caution, sensitivity, compassion & insistence on preserving dignity & autonomy when taking people’s pictures is stark.
To leave Vietnam for the last time, in 1975, having been unable to get into the country because his name was on a blacklist, McCullin, the brutalised war photographer, joins a flight evacuating orphans & looks after 2 children, cradling one in his arms, the whole way back.
As the book goes on McCullin often talks of having to not let his imagination run away with him (although when he does there’s probably a risk of that he’s facing real dangers just as bad as his imagination can conjure up) & of wrestling with bad thoughts… he yearns for home when he’s away in the thick of the action but can’t settle when he returns…
Throughout, he’s evaluating & re-evaluating his life & what it means; he thought the book might lay his demons to rest but it just made him feel awful about the breakup of his marriage… everything fell apart, his health, his marriage & his work dried up with the changes to newspapers’ priorities in the eighties. The updated preface reveals things had improved in the years since the original publication but you can’t help but wonder that no more permanent damage was done following a life of such brutal horror & ever-present risk.
Brutalised by violence, immunised against danger, McCullin never seems to lose his compassion. That is the story of this book, this man. It gives me hope
August 22, 2022
The writing in this wasn't overly groundbreaking, which occasionally gave the narrative a kind of monotonous feel, but some sections were worse for this than others and overall the quality of writing was decent. What it lacks in writing style it makes up for in the sheer amount of detail covered, though sometimes these details can overlap and lead to momentary confusion until a date grounds you again. If it wasn't so wildly entertaining it would probably let itself down thanks to these issues, but as it happens there's so much going on that it's forgivable. Chances are that this is exactly what you'd be looking for if you picked up a book like this, so I can't really complain.
There are a lot of pictures included, which are always absolutely fascinating to see. It bugs the hell out of me when you have a book about photojournalists that skimp on the photographs! Like, come on! But this one definitely delivers, and it really adds context and great visuals to the events being described.
I should mention that this is a product of its time: there is some language used that would not be acceptable now, and while included in direct quotes is unfortunate but ultimately necessary as it's a direct quote, the author does also use some of these terms in the narrative. These particular terms were, however, unfortunately the accepted word at the time, due to the kind of ignorance we're all guilty of when future generations look back. While it's jarring, I feel confident in saying that it's nothing more than a product of its time. McCullin consistently shows tact and consideration when writing about the complicated issues and conflicts he's witnessed, which makes me certain that had he known a nicer word at the time, he would have used it.
There are a lot of pictures included, which are always absolutely fascinating to see. It bugs the hell out of me when you have a book about photojournalists that skimp on the photographs! Like, come on! But this one definitely delivers, and it really adds context and great visuals to the events being described.
I should mention that this is a product of its time: there is some language used that would not be acceptable now, and while included in direct quotes is unfortunate but ultimately necessary as it's a direct quote, the author does also use some of these terms in the narrative. These particular terms were, however, unfortunately the accepted word at the time, due to the kind of ignorance we're all guilty of when future generations look back. While it's jarring, I feel confident in saying that it's nothing more than a product of its time. McCullin consistently shows tact and consideration when writing about the complicated issues and conflicts he's witnessed, which makes me certain that had he known a nicer word at the time, he would have used it.
September 17, 2019
What could have degenerated into a whistle stop tour of the 20th century's man made disasters, McCullin deals with the events of his extraordinary life with humour, humility and humanity which makes this autobiography a great read. You get the impression they don't make them like they used to...
January 14, 2020
"Devi pensare che stai rubando qualcosa che non ti appartiene di diritto. Stai rubando le immagini di altre persone."
Ho impiegato più di sei mesi per finire questo libro, mi ha letteralmente spaccato in due.
La domanda che alla fine di ogni capitolo mi martellava in testa era: "Ma come fa?"
Rimanevo interi minuti a fissare le fotografie e a pensare a quanto aveva appena scritto.
Don McCullin è un uomo che per sua stessa ammissione non riesce a stare lontano dalla guerra.
In più di cinquant'anni di fotografie senza tempo Don è riuscito a realizzare con un'onestà che ti prende a schiaffi reportage che immortalano catastrofi e conflitti come la guerra in Vietnam, il Conflitto nordirlandese, i Khmer rossi in Cambogia, il conflitto israelo-palestinese e l'epidemia di AIDS che ha colpito l'Africa, catturando momenti di indicibile sofferenza con incredibile lucidità.
"Mi sono innamorato della fotografia per caso. È stata lei a scegliermi e non io a scegliere lei. Allo stesso tempo, però, la fotografia è stata un tormento."
Ho impiegato più di sei mesi per finire questo libro, mi ha letteralmente spaccato in due.
La domanda che alla fine di ogni capitolo mi martellava in testa era: "Ma come fa?"
Rimanevo interi minuti a fissare le fotografie e a pensare a quanto aveva appena scritto.
Don McCullin è un uomo che per sua stessa ammissione non riesce a stare lontano dalla guerra.
In più di cinquant'anni di fotografie senza tempo Don è riuscito a realizzare con un'onestà che ti prende a schiaffi reportage che immortalano catastrofi e conflitti come la guerra in Vietnam, il Conflitto nordirlandese, i Khmer rossi in Cambogia, il conflitto israelo-palestinese e l'epidemia di AIDS che ha colpito l'Africa, catturando momenti di indicibile sofferenza con incredibile lucidità.
"Mi sono innamorato della fotografia per caso. È stata lei a scegliermi e non io a scegliere lei. Allo stesso tempo, però, la fotografia è stata un tormento."
February 20, 2019
You could say that I grew up with Don McCullin. He was there in my Observer and Sunday Times magazines for most of my youth. He was a rich source of visual material when I was at art college in the late 60s, early 70s. I bought "Is Anybody Taking Any Notice" when it came out in 75 and used it, once more, as source material for my students. Meanwhile he continued to land on my doorstep most Sundays, bringing the real world into my life.
His autobiography is fascinating. He was there, in the thick of our violent century. He was there whilst we watched things unfold on the television. He is a witness to our times. To read "Unreasonable Behaviour" is to be present at the unfolding history rather than to just be an observer.
Why only 4 and not 5? I got irritated by the typos in my paperback copy.
His autobiography is fascinating. He was there, in the thick of our violent century. He was there whilst we watched things unfold on the television. He is a witness to our times. To read "Unreasonable Behaviour" is to be present at the unfolding history rather than to just be an observer.
Why only 4 and not 5? I got irritated by the typos in my paperback copy.
November 26, 2016
The job that war reporters do is an important one and I admire them for it. I'm a photographer myself but I don't know if I could do that job. The camera creates distance but Don McCullen also saw a lot without the camera in front of his face. I do not envy Don McCullen and other war reporters because the horrible things they have seen will always stay with them. It is admirable that he didn't become more of a cynic and very bitter. This autobiography shows that you can still stay human in inhumane conditions.
August 16, 2021
I've never read an autobiography like this. As a photographer myself, to read about McCullin's picture taking in some of the worst places in the world was mind blowing. He really is a world class photojournalist and I feel privileged to have been able to see how he moved among some of the most vulnerable and terrified people on earth in my time. I felt gutted by his description of how and when he left the Sunday times, and by the end of the book I was in tears.
April 25, 2019
I bought this book at the Don McCullin Exhibition, which is currently running at Tate Britain (and which I recommend you go and see if you can get the chance.) I am familiar with Don McCullin and his work as the indirect result of watching a TV series called 'Frankie's House'(1992), which was about Tim Page. Page was a British photographer who covered the Vietnam War. From Tim Page's book, 'Page after Page: Memoirs of a War-Torn Photographer' (I think) I first came across mention of Don McCullin.
I realised that even though I didn't know who McCullin was I knew his work. I had studied the Vietnam War at University and McCullin had taken one of the (probably) two most famous photographs from that war. The one of the shell-shocked American soldier staring out of the photograph at you. But other familiar photographs from other conflicts turned out to be by McCullin.
In 2012 there was an excellent documentary released about him, which I recommend highly so it surprises me that I have only just got around to reading it now considering it was published in 1992 (and I don't think it has been updated for this edition, although I am ready to be corrected.) It is the story of his career and life, although after the latter forms more the top and tail of the book than the former.
His career seems to have been a mix of visits to places in the midst of terrible conflict and more cultural coverage. A lot of which we here in the UK either quietly ignored at the time or have totally forgotten about now - Cyprus, the Middle-East, South and Central America, Vietnam, Cambodia and various parts of Africa. His life was often at risk in these places (and he mentions time and time again journalists and photographers that died in the places he managed to get away from.) His work was either for continental magazines or for British newspapers, initially the Observer and then the Times and Sunday Times.
Indeed, one of the sub-texts of this book might be the decline of British journalism. I think you could date that to the moment Rupert Murdoch took over the Times and Sunday Times and put Andrew Neil in charge. Neil is one of the rare figures in this book that you feel McCullin despises. His appearance near the end doesn't make him look good. I'm sure Andrew Neil's version of the events McCullin describes would be different indeed.
The thing about this book is that it is also a reminder of how quickly we forget. At least when the conflicts don't involve us. Who in the UK now remembers the conflict in Beirut? Or Cyprus? Or...[insert name of conflict here.]
It's a book without frills too. McCullin's writing is to the point. It's never dull.
He lets us into his head a little. His questioning of what he's doing and why he's doing it, especially after a particularly dark incident, is continuing. He seems to be suffering from being a survivor. Or perhaps being a witness unable - except occasionally - to act on what's happening in front of him is a whole different type of guilt.
If you're interested in current affairs and journalism then read this book. If you're interested in the price that some people pay for their work then read this book. It's good.
O and go to the Tate Britain Exhibition. Before it is too late.
I realised that even though I didn't know who McCullin was I knew his work. I had studied the Vietnam War at University and McCullin had taken one of the (probably) two most famous photographs from that war. The one of the shell-shocked American soldier staring out of the photograph at you. But other familiar photographs from other conflicts turned out to be by McCullin.
In 2012 there was an excellent documentary released about him, which I recommend highly so it surprises me that I have only just got around to reading it now considering it was published in 1992 (and I don't think it has been updated for this edition, although I am ready to be corrected.) It is the story of his career and life, although after the latter forms more the top and tail of the book than the former.
His career seems to have been a mix of visits to places in the midst of terrible conflict and more cultural coverage. A lot of which we here in the UK either quietly ignored at the time or have totally forgotten about now - Cyprus, the Middle-East, South and Central America, Vietnam, Cambodia and various parts of Africa. His life was often at risk in these places (and he mentions time and time again journalists and photographers that died in the places he managed to get away from.) His work was either for continental magazines or for British newspapers, initially the Observer and then the Times and Sunday Times.
Indeed, one of the sub-texts of this book might be the decline of British journalism. I think you could date that to the moment Rupert Murdoch took over the Times and Sunday Times and put Andrew Neil in charge. Neil is one of the rare figures in this book that you feel McCullin despises. His appearance near the end doesn't make him look good. I'm sure Andrew Neil's version of the events McCullin describes would be different indeed.
The thing about this book is that it is also a reminder of how quickly we forget. At least when the conflicts don't involve us. Who in the UK now remembers the conflict in Beirut? Or Cyprus? Or...[insert name of conflict here.]
It's a book without frills too. McCullin's writing is to the point. It's never dull.
He lets us into his head a little. His questioning of what he's doing and why he's doing it, especially after a particularly dark incident, is continuing. He seems to be suffering from being a survivor. Or perhaps being a witness unable - except occasionally - to act on what's happening in front of him is a whole different type of guilt.
If you're interested in current affairs and journalism then read this book. If you're interested in the price that some people pay for their work then read this book. It's good.
O and go to the Tate Britain Exhibition. Before it is too late.
June 26, 2019
McCullin's autobiography was lent to me by the friend who had just taken me to the photographer's retrospective exhibition at Tate Britain, which was excellent (one can hardly say 'enjoyable' given the content of many of the photographs). It has been great to read the book while the exhibition is still vivid in my mind.
No one can see these pictures without asking the question: 'How can he take them?' The book helps considerably, by showing how McCullin stumbled into photography, and especially into war photography, largely by accident, although it would of course have been impossible without his latent talent. By reading it, we can get a degree of incite into what drives him, how he copes with the events that he captures on film, and how his job affects the rest of his life. Even reading his words and seeing a comprehensive display of his work, though, give only a partial insight. What can it really have been like to run into hails of bullets, to see soldiers shot beside you and, even worse, see the suffering of innocent families drawn into war?
McCullin talks about the nightmares he suffers and his difficulty in re-engaging with ordinary life, but the marvel is that he can do this at all, and retain both his sanity and (it appears) his loving relationships with those around him.
No one can see these pictures without asking the question: 'How can he take them?' The book helps considerably, by showing how McCullin stumbled into photography, and especially into war photography, largely by accident, although it would of course have been impossible without his latent talent. By reading it, we can get a degree of incite into what drives him, how he copes with the events that he captures on film, and how his job affects the rest of his life. Even reading his words and seeing a comprehensive display of his work, though, give only a partial insight. What can it really have been like to run into hails of bullets, to see soldiers shot beside you and, even worse, see the suffering of innocent families drawn into war?
McCullin talks about the nightmares he suffers and his difficulty in re-engaging with ordinary life, but the marvel is that he can do this at all, and retain both his sanity and (it appears) his loving relationships with those around him.
November 12, 2024
It's a long time since I've been so deeply moved and at the same time educated by a book. McCullin's powerful, honest writing completely transported me to times, places and events that had previously just been faceless facts that I'd known about. Thanks to 'Unreasonable Behaviour', I now feel far more aware of the true state of affairs connected to all the countless acts of man's inhumanity to man that have taken place over the decades.
I originally ordered this book because parts of it were connected to research I have been conducting for my current novel, and I did not intend to read the full thing. However, when I started skimming through the first few pages, I was immediately hooked by the astonishing account of the author's unbelievably tough, deprived upbringing, and found myself reading the entire book in just a couple of days.
I feel grateful to Don McCullin for all the efforts he has made to expose global atrocities to the ordinary Westerner, in an accessible style that doesn't hammer you over the head with details, but at the same time doesn't soften the ugly truth either. Perhaps most remarkable, on a personal level, is the true compassion for others that shines through in the author, sometimes in despair, sometimes in anger.
Highly recommended reading for anyone with a global conscience, as well as anyone with ordinary human curiosity.
I originally ordered this book because parts of it were connected to research I have been conducting for my current novel, and I did not intend to read the full thing. However, when I started skimming through the first few pages, I was immediately hooked by the astonishing account of the author's unbelievably tough, deprived upbringing, and found myself reading the entire book in just a couple of days.
I feel grateful to Don McCullin for all the efforts he has made to expose global atrocities to the ordinary Westerner, in an accessible style that doesn't hammer you over the head with details, but at the same time doesn't soften the ugly truth either. Perhaps most remarkable, on a personal level, is the true compassion for others that shines through in the author, sometimes in despair, sometimes in anger.
Highly recommended reading for anyone with a global conscience, as well as anyone with ordinary human curiosity.
April 29, 2025
I couldn’t put this book down. Don has been added to my list of people I truly admire. Every quality a person should have he possesses. A Moral compass ✔️
empathy ✔️courage ✔️humour ✔️dedication to stand up for what’s right ✔️ I could go on but you get the point . I was , as you should be , fed up with us humans and how we treat each other .
From the bunk to Private planes . Don has lived a 1000 lives and died the same amount too . Things he’s witnessed I don’t know what to add or say , the book is spell binding. It felt a long conversation with a great man speaking nonchalant at times about incredibly scary situations. I do find those that have actually lived the most interesting lives do speak without need of bragging or exaggeration mostly relay their recollections matter of factly and with good humour, when possible.
His work shines light in those darkest of corners so we owe his mum a debt of gratitude for releasing his first camera from the pawn brokers.
A Highly recommended read and do look at photos not just the war but his whole career .
Ps please don’t be alarmed or offended by some old terms used in 1960s /70s .
This is a good man has done more for the downtrodden than you ever will .
empathy ✔️courage ✔️humour ✔️dedication to stand up for what’s right ✔️ I could go on but you get the point . I was , as you should be , fed up with us humans and how we treat each other .
From the bunk to Private planes . Don has lived a 1000 lives and died the same amount too . Things he’s witnessed I don’t know what to add or say , the book is spell binding. It felt a long conversation with a great man speaking nonchalant at times about incredibly scary situations. I do find those that have actually lived the most interesting lives do speak without need of bragging or exaggeration mostly relay their recollections matter of factly and with good humour, when possible.
His work shines light in those darkest of corners so we owe his mum a debt of gratitude for releasing his first camera from the pawn brokers.
A Highly recommended read and do look at photos not just the war but his whole career .
Ps please don’t be alarmed or offended by some old terms used in 1960s /70s .
This is a good man has done more for the downtrodden than you ever will .
May 29, 2025
Would give it a 4.5 but not a 5. Very good book. Exactly what I was looking for from a war correspondent/photog. Very concisely written = a plus. Especially liked his thumbnail sketch of each conflict he reported on. Interesting family; brother Michael 30 year stint with French Foreign Legion. Legion was created to allow foreigners into French military. Don couldn't adjust to new, modern newspaper style. He bemoaned Brits for not showing interest in war conflicts, but they were jaded and didn't care anymore about the same old S-hole countries self-destructing AGAIN. Brits just didn't care anymore. Don's partner Laraine Ashton ironically married another photographer, Terry O'Neill after they broke up. Don had a magical gift for getting to the front line in war conflicts. You will notice that. He lived off the adrenaline of war. He needed that constantly. Life in merry old England just didn't do that for him. Notice that none of the war conflicts - NONE of the conflicts he reported on were in cold climes; always in the tropics. Hmm......interesting. Sad about wife Christine end of life. Apparently Don has done a number of books this (21st) century. Hope this all helps.
January 23, 2018
I found this book to be entertaining from start to finish. It is written very eloquently and the style of writing kept me interested throughout. McCullin knows how to build tension. The many illegal border crossings, threats to the life of the photographer and intense firefights go on and on without getting boring.
At times the book is very dark, but that is to be expected from a book about a war photographer. McCullin says that he wanted to shake up the Brits sitting at home on their sofa's. Evidently he has done so with his photographs, but he accomplishes the same thing with this book.
There are many interesting historical facts embedded in the story and McCullin does not shy away from expressing his opinion. The man has seen a lot of history first hand and the book definitely shows that to be a war photographer you have to have sharp instincts and a thick skin. But even then, your experiences will most likely haunt you.
Despite many of his trips, McCullin also describes the impact of his work on his personality and personal life and is very honest.
For those who are interested in a book about war journalism and photography this book is a recommended read.
At times the book is very dark, but that is to be expected from a book about a war photographer. McCullin says that he wanted to shake up the Brits sitting at home on their sofa's. Evidently he has done so with his photographs, but he accomplishes the same thing with this book.
There are many interesting historical facts embedded in the story and McCullin does not shy away from expressing his opinion. The man has seen a lot of history first hand and the book definitely shows that to be a war photographer you have to have sharp instincts and a thick skin. But even then, your experiences will most likely haunt you.
Despite many of his trips, McCullin also describes the impact of his work on his personality and personal life and is very honest.
For those who are interested in a book about war journalism and photography this book is a recommended read.
January 2, 2023
Good though upsetting read. A remarkable and brave documentary photographer, Donald McCullin took his skills to front lines in wars large and small. Always concerned for the underdogs, his images for the Sunday Times documented human suffering not military might.
He frequently put himself in severe danger and was badly injured twice on battlefronts, never mind the frequent smaller injuries and the malaria. Yet his reward was to be no better paid than the people sitting at the desks of the Sunday Times in London. Danger money? What danger money? And as for a pension... what Pension?
When the Murdoch era began, McCullin was made redundant and that's pretty much where this book ends, dispiriting for him certainly and also for the reader.
He has turned to landscape photography and has authored a number of other books. I must read some of those.
He frequently put himself in severe danger and was badly injured twice on battlefronts, never mind the frequent smaller injuries and the malaria. Yet his reward was to be no better paid than the people sitting at the desks of the Sunday Times in London. Danger money? What danger money? And as for a pension... what Pension?
When the Murdoch era began, McCullin was made redundant and that's pretty much where this book ends, dispiriting for him certainly and also for the reader.
He has turned to landscape photography and has authored a number of other books. I must read some of those.
August 28, 2020
Unreasonable Behaviour is an exceptional first-hand account of the extraordinary life of war photographer Don McCullin. Told with brutal honesty, the book not only recalls the horrors he witnessed throughout his career, but also highlights his own mistakes as well as his achievements. I've admired Don's work since my late teens and this is a fascinating insight into the incredible man who has spent his life depicting the darker side of society and otherwise unseen realities of war and deprivation with compassion and respect. He also gives a wonderful homage to one of my favourite authors Mark Shand.
May 10, 2023
I only read the Readers Digest condensed version but quite enjoyed it all the same. Detailing his experiences during wartime Britain as one of the children fostered out during the Blitz it offers an explanation for his increasing desire for action and danger. And it shows both his gradual disillusionment about war and the human condition but also his increasing need to both confront and report so that others can see. And ultimately a victim of the world's need to see everything sanitised so as not to offend our sensibilities. I found this to be an informative read and not at all as gung-ho as one might expect.
January 22, 2019
An amazing photographer and not half bad as a storyteller either. However, the book suffers slightly from its episodic nature, short chapters follow short chapters, one war follows another, and so on. I assume it's just the way the world presents itself for a travelling war photographer, but one cannot help hoping that the story would've dwelled slightly longer in some places rather than zooming quickly from place to place to place.
Even so it's solid material, and the no-nonsense tone is perfect. A bummer of an ending though.
Even so it's solid material, and the no-nonsense tone is perfect. A bummer of an ending though.
January 1, 2023
Found this via a contributor’s note in the 2020 O.Henry Prize Collection. Ben Hinshaw’s terrific short story, “Antediluvian,” features a retired war photographer protagonist based on Don McCullin, who, like the man himself, cannot escape the allure of danger or reconcile the moral and emotional damage such compulsions leave behind. McCullin’s book is a brutal tour of the consequences of 20th century warfare, genocide, starvation, and regime change animated by global superpowers. It is also a reckoning with the consequences of a life dedicated to recording such human suffering.
January 19, 2023
well I don't fancy being a war photographer much. a fascinating if slightly downbeat (and tough for January) read, and an excellent perspective on the horrors of the wars of the 20th century. the sheer number of experiences he's been through carry you through the book. I have absolutely no idea how he got through the spell in the Ugandan prison. you just about get a glimpse under the surface of the toll it's taken , but not an enormous amount. The style gets slightly repetitive but an important and interesting book. It hasn't restored any of my lost faith in humanity however.
August 4, 2023
What a harrowing read this is ,but it’s the sort of book people should read before advocating intervention or arming other nations.It’s both graphic and disarmingly and a searing indictment of US policy globally ,although Don McCullan makes few value judgements himself. His anger is internalised into questioning his own motives for filming human suffering and misery.No spoilers but the last chapter moved me to tears.A man who has seen everything and has survived everything that life has thrown at him ,including unbearable personal loss.A brave and in many ways an uplifting book .
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 15, 2019
Really enjoying a run on memoirs at the moment.
Aswell as photography being my favourite hobby, I have a particular interest in photojournalism / conflict / war photography.
I am intrigued to find what drives folk to put themselves in harm's way for a photo.
Don McCullin is an behemoth of a man in the genre and this book is excellent at filling the gaps in his early life and provides a warts and all account of his approach to the field.
Excellent.
Aswell as photography being my favourite hobby, I have a particular interest in photojournalism / conflict / war photography.
I am intrigued to find what drives folk to put themselves in harm's way for a photo.
Don McCullin is an behemoth of a man in the genre and this book is excellent at filling the gaps in his early life and provides a warts and all account of his approach to the field.
Excellent.
August 4, 2025
Wish there were more photos but wow what a career. McCullin gives such a broad range of insight into different wars zones and the impact on the people who had to live through it every day. He is a class act but sadly not many photographers/reporters have his integrity or compassion for truth today.
September 15, 2017
Extremely repetitive & no insight into photography or photography techniques.
The vast majority of the book is Don going to wars, him accessing the front line, seeing horrors, in danger, getting out. This quickly gets repetitive and the book lost my interest then.
The vast majority of the book is Don going to wars, him accessing the front line, seeing horrors, in danger, getting out. This quickly gets repetitive and the book lost my interest then.
January 6, 2018
It's a personal thing, but I just can't stand Don McCullin's personality. I know a lot of photographers speak of him as a hero, but he kind of makes my skin crawl and I can't help it. Can't remember exactly why - would need to re-visit this book for specific examples.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews