On June 8, 1972, nine-year-old Kim Phuc, severely burned by napalm, ran from her blazing village in South Vietnam and into the eye of history. Her photograph-one of the most unforgettable images of the twentieth century-was seen around the world and helped turn public opinion against the Vietnam War.
This book is the story of how that photograph came to be-and the story of what happened to that girl after the camera shutter closed. Award-winning biographer Denise Chong's portrait of Kim Phuc-who eventually defected to Canada and is now a UNESCO spokesperson-is a rare look at the Vietnam War from the Vietnamese point-of-view and one of the only books to describe everyday life in the wake of this war and to probe its lingering effects on all its participants.
Girl in the Picture: The Story of Kim Phuc, the Photograph, and the Vietnam War FROM THE PUBLISHER From the most photographed war in the twentieth century, among the enduring images is one of a little girl screaming in pain and terror after being burned by napalm in an air attack. On June 8, 1972, nine-year-old Kim Phuc ran from her burning village in South Vietnam and into the eye of history. Her photograph, taken by an Associated Press photographer, was seen around the world and helped turn public opinion against the Vietnam War. It is an image that remains branded in the memory of all who lived through the Vietnam years. This book is the story of how that photograph came to be taken and what happened to Kim Phuc after it was taken. It opens up to American readers an unknown world - the world of Vietnam after the American army left and Saigon fell to the Communists from the north.
FROM THE CRITICS San Francisco Chronicle ...it is a book that everyone should read, especially those who think the war ends on the day hostilities cease. Biography ...Chong deserves praise for achieving something that few journalists have even attempted: In telling Phuc's tale, she has created a dramatic tableau of daily village life during and after the war. Baltimore Sun An extraordinary piece of journalism.
Publishers Weekly All you have to do is say "the girl in the picture" and any American who was politically aware during the Vietnam War will conjure up the image of a little Vietnamese girl running down the road, her naked body scorched by napalm, her face contorted in pain. That photograph, taken of a girl named Kim Phuc on June 8, 1972, by Nick Ut of the Associated Press, remains a haunting image of the American war in Vietnam. Canadian writer Chong (The Concubine's Children) now tells Phuc's story in this instructive authorized biography. Tracing Phuc's life both before and after she was nearly killed (at age nine) by a South Vietnamese air force napalm strike gone wrong, Chong unblinkingly presents graphic depictions of the horrors that the war visited on innocent civilians. She finds, however, amidst these tragedies, a redemptive story in Phuc's life, which, thankfully, has a happy ending. Through the heroic efforts of Nick Ut, British correspondent Christopher Wain and others, the girl was taken to an excellent hospital in Saigon. Through 17 operations (in 24 months), an international team of doctors saved her life. Later, after communist authorities mercilessly used her for propaganda purposes, she fled Vietnam. Today, she and her husband are Christians, living in Ontario with their two sons. Although Phuc's entire back remains deeply scarred (keeping her in near constant pain), she works as an unpaid goodwill ambassador for UNESCO and runs her own foundation for child victims of war. Chong's biography, though overly detailed at times, is a well-rendered and affecting life story. 8 pages of b&w photos. (Aug.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|
Library Journal The horrors suffered by villagers during the Vietnam War were encapsulated in the unforgettable, Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of nine-year-old Kim Phuc running naked and screaming in agony from a blast of napalm dropped by a South Vietnamese fighter plane. Chong (The Concubine's Children) presents the story of Phuc's miraculous recovery and the memorable life of the war victim always to be remembered as "the girl in the picture." Phuc's spent 13 months recovering from third-degree burns that covered 35 percent of her body. She later became a good student, but her dream of becoming a doctor was never realized because of the celebrity status given to her by the victorious Communists. Prime Minister Dong treated Phuc like a granddaughter, allowing her to attend the University of Havana in Cuba, far away from the demands of the Vietnamese government. Phuc realized that Cuba, which had fallen on economic hard times once its economic sponsor, the Soviet Union pulled out, offered no promise of a future. In 1992, she escape to Canada,d two sons. An important story vividly retold; highly recommended for all public libraries.
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