River of Time

When I first became aware of Swain's book, my initial thought was, "Another war correspondent's attempt to cash in on the 25th anniversary of the fall of Indo-China." I bought the book, but more because of my current mania for the subject, not because I expected much out of it.Swain began to win me over right away. He begins the book with much the same sentiment as I expressed above. The author himself wonders what he can add to what's been written before. The answer is: A lot.Swain's style fits the subject: factual, but with humanity; horrified without being overwhelmed. The author's self-professed love for Indo-China is evident. The depth of his feelings enabled me to see and feel the end of Indo-China as it had been.The highlight of the book is the description of the fall of Phnom Penh and the immediate aftermath. I have read several accounts of these events, written by Cambodians and Westerners, and I have seen "The Killing Fields". None of those tellings hold a candle to Swain's description. The misery, chaos, horror, insanity, and inhumanity comes to life in his words.Swain's work takes it's place among the best of the field.

I feel a little sorry for a few of the reviewers who have gone before me. I think they may be missing the point. The book does not attempt to provide in-depth military facts, nor is it an attempt at writing a 'suspense thriller', nor is it fiction. Rather, it is portrayal of the experiences of one man [and his friends'] during times of conflict [largely] in Indochina. It is a book of truth and emotion, of beauty and futility, of love and war. Ultimately, it is a book about humanity. Jon Swain has done well, and this book would be a welcome addition to the bookshelves of anyone who is interested in human conflict, Indochina or personal accounts of life in times of extremely adverse and uncertain conditions.

"River of Time" is perhaps the most intimate account yet published by the war correspondents and journalists who came of age in Southeast Asia. The author goes to great lengths to reveal all, even aspects which he knows many readers will find personally unflattering. This work is an emotional one totally different in tone from his colleague Robert Sam Anson's more hard-edged but equally distinguished work on the same subject, "War News". Unable to shake his admitted addition to seeking both the truth and personal fame in pursuit of same, Swain abandoned the love of his life for what became yet another hostage experience in Africa. His more recent brushes with death in East Timor show that his one-track obsession with his vocation remains intact. All those who once lost their hearts to Southeast Asia will see a little of themselves in Jon Swain's realistic and accurate self-portrait. A valuable work by a charming an complex man widely admired by his colleagues in the field and by his readers around the world.

Cambodia was beautiful when Swain first arrived and he, a young journalist, relished it all, from the natural beauty of the country to the fine French food and legal opium dens. Trouble was coming though, although no one at that time could have imagined the horror.Swain also went to Vietnam, which at the time was full of Americans. He rode on helicopters out to the battlefield, helped rescue victims of a bombing in a movie theater, and fell in love. His descriptions and experiences, from a British point of view, adds his own special twist to the vast body of work I have read about Vietnam by Americans. In spite of the danger, he voluntarily returned to Cambodia to experience the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge and would have been executed if it were not for the intervention of Dith Pran, the Cambodian journalist who is best known for his role in the movie The Killing Fields. Swain was captive in the French Embassy and experienced the agony of families being torn apart and marched off to their brutal deaths.All of these experiences are captured in riveting detail and I couldn't put the book down in spite of the gruesome realistic details on every page. There are horrors, adventure and a lust for writing a good story and reporting the truths to the world. I applaud him and the profession of journalism for that.

Fantastic memoir of Jon Swain's time in Indochina, an extremely poignant and personal summary of a tragic war. I purchased this book "for something to read", but found myself moved to tears. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in the plight of the Cambodians. Such a great lesson could have been learnt, unfortunately we now see a repeat occurrence in East Timor.