Going to the Wars
by Max Hastings
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Description
A personal account of a journalist on the front line, written by one of the greatest war reporters of the twentieth century. Max Hastings grew up with romantic dreams of a life amongst warriors. But after an embarrassing false start as a parachute soldier in 1963, he became a journalist instead. Before he was thirty he had reported on conflicts round the world, including the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the Biafra and Vietnam Wars. He covered the five years of fighting in Cambodia, show more leaving Saigon by the last helicopter out of the American Embassy as the city fell to the Khmer Rouge. He masqueraded as a game hunter to seek out the secrets of the Rhodesian civil war, was almost shot by marauding Turkish soldiers during the invasion of Cyprus, and took part in an amphibious landing at San Carlos with 40 Commando during the Falklands War. Insightful and entertaining, Going to the Wars is also the story of a self-confessed coward with a love of adventure and determination to get the scoop. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Great read. Honest and fascinating. The first-hand insight into pieces of these wars is superb and his empathy for the common solider is inspiring. Also just to see how journalism has evolved is worth the read. As we see the sorry fate of journalists in the Middle East lately you have to admire their dedication even if it a double-edged purpose in their being harms way. Is there a role for the writing journalist anymore? I hope so cause more than ever we need to understand what is going on.
Always having a good time in company with Hastings' books. This book relates stories from some of the post WWII wars and conflicts with but with another angle than other good books on the subjects.
I really liked it
I really liked it
6/10.
Max Hasting recounts his experiences covering various wars from Northern Ireland to Vietnam and the Falklands. Very interesting but the Falklands stuff is just like his other book.
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Author Information
79+ Works 14,529 Members
British journalist, editor, and historian Max Hastings was born on December 28, 1945. He was a foreign correspondent for BBC television and London's Evening Standard, for which he later served as editor from 1996 to 2001. Hastings also worked as editor and editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph. In addition to presenting BBC historical show more documentaries and writing numerous books of military history, Hastings has contributed to publications including the Daily Mail, The Guardian, and the New York Review of Books. He received the nonfiction Somerset Maugham Award for Bomber Command, as well as the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Prize for both Overlord and The Battle for the Falklands. His title Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War made The New York Times Best Seller List in 2013. The Secret War: Spies, Ciphers, and Guerrillas, 1939-1945 was published in 2016 and is also on the New York Times Bestsellers List. Hastings was knighted in 2002, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and from 2002-2007 was President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Original language
- English
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, History, Biography & Memoir, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 070.4333092 — Computer science, information & general works News media, journalism & publishing Documentary media, educational media, news media; journalism; publishing Journalism Reporting Local interests War
- LCC
- PN5123 .H37 .A3 — Language and Literature Literature (General) Literature (General) Journalism. The periodical press, etc. By region or country
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 128
- Popularity
- 256,484
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.22)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 1
