The First Casualty: From the Crimea to Vietnam: The War Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist, and Myth Maker

I first read this book about ten years ago. It has been a seminal book for me. Until I read this book I somewhat dismissively accepted the adage "The winners write the history."After reading "The First Casualty" I understood that in fact the propaganda of the victors _becomes_ history. I also highy reccommend "Manufacturing Consent", "A People's History of the United States", "The Myth of the Great War" and "Overlord".

Philip Knightly puts together an exciting and informative history of the war correspondent. Stripping away the romanticism that such an occupation attracted, Knightly shows the grimmer side of covering wars, from having dispatches censored to being a willing collaborator in a conflict. He concentrates from the American Civil War to the Falkland Conflict. In it, Knightly snipes at Hemingway for not reporting during the Spanish Civil War but keeping material for his books while admiring Martha Glehorn's coverage of the Vietnam war (which later got her expelled from the country).For those interested in Media Ethics and journalism, Knightly's book is highly recomended.