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- ISBN13: 9780465019786
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Overview
A gripping story of four remarkable young men鈥攑hotographers, friends and rivals鈥攚ho band together for protection in the final, violent days of white rule in South Africa.
Most people, upon hearing gunfire, would run away and hide. Conflict photojournalists have the opposite reaction: they actually look for trouble, and when they find it, get as close as possible and stand up to get the best shot. This thirst for the shot and the seeming nonchalance to the risks entailed earned Greg Marinovich, Joao Silva, Ken Oosterbroek, and Kevin Carter the moniker of the Bang-Bang Club. Oosterbroek was killed in township violence just days before South Africa’s historic panracial elections. Carter, whose picture of a Sudanese child apparently being stalked by a vulture won him a Pulitzer Prize, killed himself shortly afterwards. Another of their posse, Gary Bernard, who had held Oosterbroek as he died, also committed suicide.
The Bang-Bang Club is a memoir of a time of rivalry, comradeship, machismo, and exhilaration experienced by a band of young South African photographers as they documented their country’s transition to democracy. We forget too easily the political and ethnic violence that wracked South Africa as apartheid died a slow, spasmodic death. Supporters of the ANC and Inkatha fought bloody battles every day. The white security forces were complicit in fomenting and enabling some of the worst violence. All the while, the Bang-Bang Club took pictures. And while they did, they were faced with the moral dilemma of how far they should go in pursuit of an image, and whether there was a point at which they should stop their shooting and try to intervene.
This is a riveting and appalling book. It is simply written–these guys are photographers, not writers–but extremely engaging. They were adrenaline junkies who partied hard and prized the shot above all else. None of them was a hero; these men come across as overweeningly ambitious, egotistical, reckless, and selfish, though also brave and even principled. As South Africans, they were all invested in their country’s future, even though, as whites, they were strangers in their own land as they covered the Hostel wars in the black townships. The mixture of the romantic appeal of the war correspondent with honest assessments of their personal failings is part of what makes this account so compelling and so singular among books of its ilk. –J. Riches
April 17th, 2011 on 2:38 am
Excellent Read,
聽聽
This is a disturbing book. After the first three chapters I put it down and only picked it up again two months later. Perhaps I was just emotionally at low ebb the first time, but the brutal honesty of the descriptions in those first chapters got to me. Even though I am a South African and lived through that eventful period, I was unprepared for the honesty of the authors. At the second attempt I finished the book and am glad that I did as it is really well worth the read.
The book describes the experiences of four well-known South African press photographers, at the peak of the political transition period of the country. Of the four, only two survived. Most South Africans as well as international readers interested in photojournalism, will remember the killing of Ken Oosterbroek by a stray bullet while covering an unrest situation in the townships. And the whole world was shocked by the brilliant photograph of a starving Sudanese child with a vulture patiently waiting in the background. Kevin Carter committed suicide not long after winning a Pulitzer Prize for that image. Although the book deals mainly with their work experiences, it also provides insight in the personal lives of photojournalists. It focuses mainly on events in South Africa, especially during those eventful years in the early nineties. However, there are also references to other African countries. A few months before I read this book, I also read Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa by Keith Richburg. This was another excellent and very honest book by a black American journalist who was assigned to the African Desk of the Washington Post. The combination of these two books gives an excellent perspective on the Dark Continent and scares the hell out of you.
I can strongly recommend both these books. It is a must-read for anyone interested in photojournalism and for people interested in the political transition period of SA. People who enjoy biographies will also appreciate the book.
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|April 17th, 2011 on 3:05 am
Brutal – not just the photos but the message as well,
I can’t even imagine how hard it was for these guys to write this book. Not only did they lose two of their best friends during the period covered by the book, not only did they have to watch people die in front of them, but they’ve come to realize that the photographs they were taking did not accomplishing what they hoped – to stop the violence. It’s a harrowing but rewarding read, a real page turner.
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|April 17th, 2011 on 3:31 am
Horrible Reproduction Quality Photos!,
I had purchased this same title through Amazon last year and was thrilled with the quality. However, this time the book was terrible. All the photos were obviously very poorly reproduced, as if they had been made on a black and white copier. I needed this book for our Missions Department at the church where I work, and I was embarrassed to hand this book over to the Director of Missions. The product description should have stated something about the photos. The book I initially bought had color photos on slick paper. Thank you for your time.
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