Books News
Probing the depths of war
By Jessica Schneider May 25, 2009, 12:40 GMT
Book DescriptionIn 1986, French photojournalist Didier Lefèvre accompanied a team of Doctors Without Borders (DWB) traveling to Afghanistan during the war with the Soviet Union. It was his first assignment. His striking landscape photography documents their journey from Peshawar, Pakistan across the Hindu Kush mountains with a caravan of 120 donkeys, 20 horses and 40 armed guards. A donkey fell through the ice and ...more
For anyone wondering what war looks like, this new book should provide some answers. Part memoir, part photos, “The Photographer: Into war-torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders” is this latest work by Emmanuel Guibert.
The book description notes:
“In 1986, French photojournalist Didier Lefčvre accompanied a team of Doctors Without Borders (DWB) traveling to Afghanistan during the war with the Soviet Union.
It was his first assignment. His striking landscape photography documents their journey from Peshawar, Pakistan across the Hindu Kush mountains with a caravan of 120 donkeys, 20 horses and 40 armed guards. A donkey fell through the ice and was rescued; one unlucky horse groom was lost during a night crossing.
When they reached their destination in northern Afghanistan's Yaftal valley, DWB set up a clinic on a windswept porch with a courtyard that served as an ICU and a nearby mosque as a recovery room. The first patient was a young boy who burned his foot in a bread oven--a common injury in Afghanistan.”
Amazon also provides some samples of the photos.
The NYT describes the book as one that: “tells the story of a small mission of mostly French doctors and nurses who traveled into northern Afghanistan by horse and donkey train in 1986, at the height of the Soviet occupation. The book shows the damage done to bodies and souls by shells, bullets and iron fragments, and the frantic struggle to mend the broken.”
Read the article for more details.
