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Derailed in Uncle Ho's Victory Garden: Return to Vietnam and Cambodia
Tim Page is one of the best-known Vietnam War photographers. Here, he returns to Vietnam and Cambodia to exorcize the demons of the war which have affected him, and both countries, for nearly two decades.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 28, 1995
About the author
Tim Page
21 books13 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Tim Page (25 May 1944 – 24 August 2022) was an English photographer who made his name during the Vietnam War and based in Brisbane, Australia.
Page was a photojournalist in Sth East Asia and was injured in action four times, from 1967 to 1969.
During Page's recovery, back in the US, in the spring of 1970 he learnt of the capture of his best friend, roommate and fellow photo-journalist Sean Flynn in Cambodia. Throughout the 1970s and 80s he tried to discover Flynn's fate and final resting place and wanted to erect a memorial to all those in the media who either were killed or went missing in the Vietnam wars. This led him to found the Indochina Media Memorial Foundation and was the genesis for the book Requiem, co-edited with fellow Vietnam War photographer Horst Faas. Page's quest to clear up the mystery of Flynn's fate continued; as late as 2009 he was back in Cambodia, still searching for the site of Flynn's remains.
Page's book Requiem contains photographs taken by all of the photographers and journalists killed during the Vietnamese wars against the Japanese, French and Americans. Requiem has become since early 2000 a traveling photographic exhibition placed under the custody of the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. The exhibition has been presented in Vietnam's War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, as well as in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Tokyo, Hanoi, Lausanne, and London. In 2011, it was selected to be the main exhibition of the Month of Photography Asia in Singapore.
Page is the subject of many documentaries and two films, and is the author of many books. He lived in Brisbane, Australia and no longer covers wars. He was Adjunct Professor of Photojournalism at Griffith University. - Wikipedia
Tim Page (25 May 1944 – 24 August 2022) was an English photographer who made his name during the Vietnam War and based in Brisbane, Australia.
Page was a photojournalist in Sth East Asia and was injured in action four times, from 1967 to 1969.
During Page's recovery, back in the US, in the spring of 1970 he learnt of the capture of his best friend, roommate and fellow photo-journalist Sean Flynn in Cambodia. Throughout the 1970s and 80s he tried to discover Flynn's fate and final resting place and wanted to erect a memorial to all those in the media who either were killed or went missing in the Vietnam wars. This led him to found the Indochina Media Memorial Foundation and was the genesis for the book Requiem, co-edited with fellow Vietnam War photographer Horst Faas. Page's quest to clear up the mystery of Flynn's fate continued; as late as 2009 he was back in Cambodia, still searching for the site of Flynn's remains.
Page's book Requiem contains photographs taken by all of the photographers and journalists killed during the Vietnamese wars against the Japanese, French and Americans. Requiem has become since early 2000 a traveling photographic exhibition placed under the custody of the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. The exhibition has been presented in Vietnam's War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, as well as in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Tokyo, Hanoi, Lausanne, and London. In 2011, it was selected to be the main exhibition of the Month of Photography Asia in Singapore.
Page is the subject of many documentaries and two films, and is the author of many books. He lived in Brisbane, Australia and no longer covers wars. He was Adjunct Professor of Photojournalism at Griffith University. - Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 29, 2012
Quite the character, Page was to some extent the inspiration for the character portrayed by Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now. A war photographer, specifically active during the Vietnam war, he underwent neurosurgery in the US after a near-fatal encounter. Afterwards, working as caregivers for amputees and traumatized returnees, he worked with Ron Kovic, who's story became the movie Born on the Fourth of July.
Derailed is something of a memoir, released in 1995, but written mostly a few years before, detailing Page's return to Vietnam and Cambodia, as a photographer. For me, having visited Vietnam the year prior to reading the book, the country Page encountered only 20 years ago is as different as to how I saw it as it was from when he left it during the Vietnam war. As a result, the book has relevance primarily as a memoir or, if you will, a sign of the times.
Page, known for his extensive drug use, too regularly makes a point of his smoking habits, which gets old quickly. Interestingly, he doesn't drink.
A large part of the book is about Page's times with Sean Flynn, the son of Erol Flynn, who went MIA in Cambodia (and who was immortalized in a The Clash song). Later, when returning, Page spent quite some time tracking down what happened to his friend.
Two years after this book was released, he released Requiem, containing photographs by journalists killed in south east Asia during the many wars there. From this, a permanent photographic exhibition followed at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh, which I went to see last year.
Derailed is something of a memoir, released in 1995, but written mostly a few years before, detailing Page's return to Vietnam and Cambodia, as a photographer. For me, having visited Vietnam the year prior to reading the book, the country Page encountered only 20 years ago is as different as to how I saw it as it was from when he left it during the Vietnam war. As a result, the book has relevance primarily as a memoir or, if you will, a sign of the times.
Page, known for his extensive drug use, too regularly makes a point of his smoking habits, which gets old quickly. Interestingly, he doesn't drink.
A large part of the book is about Page's times with Sean Flynn, the son of Erol Flynn, who went MIA in Cambodia (and who was immortalized in a The Clash song). Later, when returning, Page spent quite some time tracking down what happened to his friend.
Two years after this book was released, he released Requiem, containing photographs by journalists killed in south east Asia during the many wars there. From this, a permanent photographic exhibition followed at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh, which I went to see last year.
November 5, 2016
DERAILED IN UNCLE HO’S VICTORY GARDEN: RETURN TO VIETNAM AND CAMBODIA has a split personality. In the first portion, author Tim Page describes Vietnam at the time that it first became accessible to westerners following the American war. Page is observant of detail to the point of obsession. His descriptions are also quite chauvinistic, surprisingly for someone who lived in S. E. Asia for so long and is so familiar with cultures & conditions. The second portion picks up with his explorations involving the disappearance in Cambodia of two close friends during the American War in Vietnam, correspondents Sean Flynn and Dana Stone. This provides a more coherent story line. All-in-all this book is classic Tim Page; it may well be the best, most brutally honest account of an outsider’s experience in the newly opened-to-the-west Vietnam.
June 12, 2016
This book by Tim Page, one of the most celebrated Vietnam and Cambodian War photographers is a whimsical and highly specialized book and not for the uninitiated. It is both a return for Page and also a search for his long lost buddy Sean Flynn the War photographer, son of the famous Australian Hollywood actor Errol Flynn and Lili Damata. For those whom knew of Page's work and had a close relationship growing up with the Vietnam War and the loss of Photographers such as Flynn and Dana Stone, then this book will take on meaning. For others it is recommended to become well acquainted with then general period first.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews