This Is War!: A Photo-Narrative of the Korean War

by David Douglas Duncan, Harrison E. Salisbury (Contributor)

Published to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Korean War, this book contains combat photographs forming a narrative of courage, grimness, ordeal and loyalty. It follows a group of marines through a series of battles, and contains text to explain the circumstances of each photograph.

Genres: Photography

192 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1990

Reviews

[Keen Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars!

“Marines never retreat!”

The author takes a peculiar approach with the format, making a point of not including page numbers, even in the written sections, which is irritating and a pretty basic and telling error. This is very much of its time and Douglas Duncan presents the early stages of the Korean war with a cold, spare minimalism, which lays the limited facts bare, leaving little room for emotion or sentimentality.

As for the photos, they would have been powerful for the time, and certainly offer a grim insight into the Korean conflict from the American side, showing both the banality and drama of warfare. Overall I thought this lacked depth, scope and context and as a consequence it seems rushed or half-finished and not particularly informative.

“Retreat, hell! We’re just fighting in another direction.”

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

i'm glad i finally got this book. i had wanted it since we heard about it in school. remember? brian had brought in a copy too.

[Jonathan Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This photo-narrative contains five articles that briefly detail Duncan's experience during the first year of the Korean War. They are accompanied by a series of combat photographs which act as a visual testimony to his writing. The articles are titled, "In Explanation," "Korea 1950 (June through August)," "The Hill," "The City," and "Retreat, Hell!" While nothing should be lost on the content of the articles--Duncan's firsthand accounts of the battles provides glimpses into combat stratagems, as well as chilling insights into the dehumanizing nature of military combat and its immediate effects on those waging it--the emphasis of this publication is certainly the photographs. They are characterized by a harrowing realization that we, the viewers, have either witnessed or are confronting the advent of death. We see soldiers advancing over fallen comrades, the smoke and fog of detonated artillery, G.I.'s confronting corpses, rigid portraits of empty eyes engendered by the indescribable destruction of warfare, and even brief moments of reprieve. In other words, these photographs belie the tantalizing glorification of war as heroic, gallant, valiant, or courageous. In some ways, the brilliance of Duncan's project can be found in the way he captures these (de)humanizing moments with such aesthetic clarity; we are invited to witness archetypal snapshots of the human experience during warfare. As an emerging student of combat photography and military history, I feel that this is a must read (and see) for visual, military, political, and popular culture historians alike.

[Brian Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is War! A Photo-Narrative of the Korean War by David Douglas Duncan with a forward by the infamous Harrison E. Salisbury showcases some of the finest conflict imagery ever (superior even to Duncan’s Khe Sanh work). This volume is the 1990 re-issue of the original 1951 book. There are no captions to the images, but Duncan provides a lengthy text introduction to each of the three sections which serve even better than captions. Salisbury’s new forward is an overview of the Korean conflict and hardly rates as solid history (aside from his estimation of Douglas MacArthur).

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of poignant photographs of U.S. Marines at war in Korea made even more so by the absence of any photo descriptions.

[Scot · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to read this for two reasons, to understand more about the forgotten war, and to see some good war images.

The latter was successful, as I enjoyed the authors work, but the book itself was poorly formatted and the context of pictures was lost due to this. Having said that the usefulness of this book is limited.