Tim Hetherington: Infidel Paperback – September 30, 2010

A very moving first hand account of the beauty and horrors of war.

Hetheringon was a seasoned War photojournalist before he embedded with Battle Co. in the Korengal Valley in the high Hindu Kush Mts, of north eastern Afghanistan, called "The Most Dangerous Place on Earth." He spent a total of 5 harrowing months with the platoon during their brutal 15-month deployment in the Korengal, also known as 'the Valley of Death"And Battle CO. was 'the point of the spear', a handful of soldiers on a spit of mountain top - a 2 hour hike up the mountains and the only thing between the Taliban and the rest of the fire bases: no electricity, no running water, no hot food - the only thing they had a lot of was firefights. They experienced 20% of all the fighting in Afghanistan...Tim's inner eye captures every aspect of young warriors in the hell of war from the midst of battle to the utter exhaustion to the deep comaraderie to the levity to the shattering loss of 'brothers' to the innocent faces of the sleeping 'boys."There's a reason he won, beating out over 80,000 entries, the World Press Photo of the Year 2007 - with a photo he took of one of Battle Co.s soldiers following a long siege. He is a consumate photojouranlist. The old saw, "one photo is worth a thousand words" certainly hold true for this book, full of unstaged, as is happens, photos of men in war...our men.If you want to get a raw, unvarnished look at what war is for warriors in conflict and what these men accomplished and endured in the wilderness of the Afghan mountains, where the terrain can be as deadly as the Taliban - get "INFIDEL". It belongs, for all time, on everyone's book shelf - or coffee table...or both.as it says above in the product description, Tim also was awarded: "the Rory Peck Award for Features (2008) and an Alfred I duPont Award for excellence in broadcast journalism while on assignment with Sebastian Junger for ABC News (2009). As a filmmaker, he has worked as both a cameraman and director/producer. Restrepo won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. He is based in New York and is a contributing photographer for Vanity Fair magazine. "The movie they wrote and directed together, RESTREPO, has/is been playing in select theaters across the country to rave reviews. The ABC documentary is on YouTube, along with several video clips of their time in the Korengal. A search will bring up hundreds of interviews and the trailor. RESTREPO will also be aired by Nat'l Geo in Nov.Get the book: INFIDEL. It's a treatise on war that will be a classic, relevent for as long as there are wars - and young men sent to fight them - and beyond.

Well let me first start off by saying, this book is a great buy.With that being said, I feel it is extremely important to let you know of the following: A few images in this book were most definitely intended for a mature audience. For example, Mr. Hetherington took a photograph of a flytrap, in this photo there is a picture from a magazine pinned to the wall, in this particular image there is a female with both breasts and vagina clearly visible. I understand that this is an everyday type of thing for our servicemen overseas, and only adds to the realism, but if you're planning on buying this book for a younger individual, I would have to advise against it; There are roughly five images overall with nudity visible -- mostly female.Anyway, with all of the above being said, this book is a truly amazing photo portrait of a single platoon serving in what was considered to be the most dangerous outpost in Afghanistan. Just as the documentary " Restrepo ," when you open up this book, put all of your personal thoughts, feelings, opinions and politics of the war aside. The book is not meant to promote the war, but rather to give the viewer a glimpse of what it's like to be a U.S. Army Soldier serving in the harsh mountainous hillsides of Afghanistan.The images inside show us war, brotherhood, love and the 'downtime' of war -- which consists of countless hours of boredom. Such as the section of the book that features pictures of the men sleeping, which I found to be interesting. Men armed to the teeth with machine-guns, assault rifles, grenades, body armor, ect., ready to do war, strip down to only their underwear and sleep. The venerability of the men while they sleep is truly amazing.While the majority of the book is photographs, the later part of the book contains several entry's from a few men from the platoon. These short entry's are commentary's from their 2007-2008 deployment -- which is when the photos inside were taken.Long story short, this book is a great buy and well worth your time.

This book is best bought and read as a companion piece to Sebastian Junger's "War," as it features close-up personal images of many of those soldiers, as well as a few narratives by those men. I've embedded as a freelance photojournalist in Iraq, and photos like these I've tried to capture myself.These images are uncommon and not often seen in newspapers, etc. Usually, newspapers can't focus on individual soldiers since they're trying to tell a larger story, but Hetherington has the space to present them here. I think readers will appreciate how soldiers look at war - when they aren't hidden under 50 pounds of gear, helmets and sunglasses. Here you can see the men as they look in 'real' life.By itself, I think this book might be seen as somewhat narrow. A reader might skim through it, appreciate it, but because it's mostly visual, there's nowhere else to go with it. But in combination with "Restrepo," which Hetherington co-directed, and the book "War," I think a reader will see the full picture - through these still images, written words, and film.Of course, this work now stands as a memorial to Hetherington, who never appears in any of the images himself. Killed in Libya, this will be his last book. He risked his life to get these photos, in a dangerous place that he certainly didn't have to go.When I bought the book, I skimmed it, said to myself 'wow, good job,' then put it on a shelf and forgot about it until today. I think new and future readers will appreciate the images even more, because now they'll know what it sometimes costs to accomplish work like this - both by the men in front of the camera, and Hetherington behind it.

The media could not be loaded.  I bought this to accompany  War  by Sebastian Junger and my pre-order of  Restrepo [DVD ]. Having been waiting to get all three of these works together before I take my time to properly consume them, I found as soon as Infidel was taken out its wrapping I just couldn't stop myself taking in the entire book in one sitting. Really quite amazing and arresting imagery. One I will be re-visiting a lot.The format and editing are worth a mention too. Kicking off with an introduction by Sebastian Junger, followed by a two page grid of the profile photos of the soldiers in his book. Following this is the main body of work, Tim Hetheringon's times at FOB Restrepo. The book concludes with the meditations of the soldiers themselves, short paragraphs on what they feel they took away from their tour, mixed with a few anecdotes.It is always refreshing to come across the story of what we are involved in in Afghanistan rather than just the politics.Though one small thing that can be quite frustrating, is the images that have a two page spread, inevitably leave an area at the binding that distorts the image. Which on the whole isn't an issue, except for a couple of the night-time images whose focus is at the partition between the pages. No biggie though. WarRestrepo [DVD

I was inspired to buy this book after seeing and then buying the documovie Restrepo. The images in this book are insghtful, moving, shocking and sometimes amusing. As an amateur photographer I found them to be all of the above and inspirational too and this excellent book shares shelf space with my NatGeo collection.Whether you are a military enthusiast, a fan of the film or a photographer, this book has something for you.

Interesting and well made presentation-wise. I'm into photography and wanted to know more about the way Tim Hetherington worked as a video film maker. Not disappointed but feel this is a book for those interested in either current warfare (don't expect pictures of explosive action) or those interested in obtaining insights into how 'being there' affects the soldiers and in this book, to a lesser extent, the civilians involved.

This photo-book is a great achievement as it communicates to some extent the world that these soldiers inhabit. If I didn't have it, I'd get it again. The unique voice of Tim Hetherington - sadly missed.

A great look at a modern war. Just finished it for the second time. Tim's pictures capture the true essence of an outpost.