Iconic and Unseen War Photos From Vietnam and Iraq [View all]

For every Vietnam War image seared into our memory, there are thousands more, documenting our two-decade slog through an ultimately unwinnable conflict. Vietnam: the Real War, a Photographic History by the Associated Press tells this familiar but still compelling story in rich, visual detail, providing a thorough look at the daily life of US and South Vietnamese soldiers in the jungles and rice paddies, and on city streets. The book's 300-plus photos, all from the AP archives, fill in the moments between the Pulitzer-winning images.

It's hard to understate the impact photography had on the Vietnam War. When photojournalists talk about making images that inform, foment change, make an impact, this is what they're talking about. But that was then. For a number of reasons—cable news, Twitter, war fatigue, iPhones, reality TV, etc.—professional photojournalists may never again affect the public's perception of war the way they did in Vietnam.

The book begins with the early days of the "French Debacle" (1945-54) and marches us through the fall of Saigon in May 1975. Along the way, you'll see iconic photos—Nick Ut's shot of a young girl burned by Napalm, Malcolm Browne's photo of the burning monk, Eddie Adams' image of General Nguyen Ngoc Loan's street execution of a VC official—that changed the way people back home saw and felt about the war. They helped convince the general public—that the United States had no business fighting there.

The level of skill employed by the AP at the time was second to none. The book includes work from more than 50 photojournalists. You may not recognize their names—Henri Huet, Horst Faas, Eddie Adams, Dang Van Phuoc—but you've probably seen their work. Images from North Vietnamese photographers and DC-based AP photographers fill out the history of the war.

http://www.motherjones.com/media/2013/10/photos-vietnam-real-war-photojournalists