Product Description

At a time when journalism is under attack as never before, "Tell Me No Lies" could not be more timely. It is a celebration of the very best investigative journalism, and some of the greatest practitioners of the craft: Seymour Hersh on the My Lai massacre; Paul Foot on the Lockerbie cover-up; Wilfred Burchett, the first Westerner to enter Hiroshima following the atomic bombing; Israeli journalist Amira Hass, reporting from the Gaza Strip in the 1990s; Gunter Wallraff, the great German undercover reporter; Jessica Mitford on 'The American Way of Death'; and, Martha Gelhorn on the liberation of the death camp at Dachau. The book, a selection of articles, broadcasts, and books extracts that revealed important and disturbing truths, ranges from across many of the critical events, scandals and struggles of the past fifty years. Along the way it bears witness to epic injustices committed against the peoples of Vietnam, Cambodia, East Timor, and Palestine. John Pilger sets each piece of reporting in its context and introduces the collection with a passionate essay arguing that the kind of journalism he celebrates here is being subverted by the very forces that ought to be its enemy. Taken as a whole, the book tells an extraordinary 'secret history' of the modern era. It is also a call to arms to journalists everywhere - before it is too late.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19182 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Review
"'Genuine objective journalism not only gets the facts right, it gets the meaning of events right. It is compelling not only today, but stands the test of time. It is validated not only by 'reliable sources' but by the unfolding of history. It is journalism that ten, twenty, fifty years after the fact still holds up a true and intelligent mirror to events.' T. D. Allman, Journalist"

From the Publisher
An incisive anthology of investigative journalism, edited and introduced by the bestselling reporter and film-maker John Pilger

About the Author
John Pilger has been a war correspondent, author and film-maker. He has twice won British journalism's highest award, that of Journalist of the Year. Among a number of other awards, he has been International Reporter of the Year and winner of the UN Association Media Peace Prize. He lives in London.

Customer Reviews

The most important book of a generation
A collection of the best works of investigative journalism from the past 60 years curated by John Pilger, arguably the best of them all.

Starting from the Second World War and a report on the aftermath of Hiroshima, through various takes on Vietnam, Iraq and other areas of terrible injsutices around the world, the book is brilliantly edited and written.

From a personal perspective I would say it is the most essential, important and terrifying book I've ever read highlighting the terrifying power held in a very few hands and the complete disregard of human suffering meted out by the corrupt regimes of the world. It engenders a feeling of intense rage, yet fills the reader with a desire to do something about it.

It should be on a school syllabus to wake up the minds of a generation who may feel helpless by a lack of quality information on how life is being controlled.

Essential.

An amazing collection which shows the beauty of journalism
John Pilger is a great investigative journalist himself and so he knows what to look for when putting together an anthology of the best examples of the trade. The pieces in this book are moving eyewitness accounts of events we have all heard of. Yet these reports add so much more to our understanding of the horror and desperateness that the people in the situations felt. It is a shame that when these events are talked about the bare, hard facts are not combined with these descriptions.

Prepare to cry as the shocking reality hits you.

There is also a great introduction about the current state of journalism from Pilger. It must be admitted that this would probably be considered a 'left wing' viewpoint because of its criticism of a capitalist media, especially Rupert Murdoch. But for those who do not enjoy the introduction then the accounts will surely tug everyone's heartstrings.

A true picture of the modern world
Books such as Mr Pilger's are absolutely essential in providing a true picture of the world that we are living in today. It makes for uncomfortable reading when you discover the full extent to which western governments (US and UK in particular) will lie and cheat in order to achieve an agenda that is veiled from public view. In many respects this collection of reports is unremittingly bleak, as it reveals man's enormous ability to kill and maim without conscience. However, it is only by exposing these injustices to the wider world that change for the better can be brought about.

Starting with post-Hiroshima Japan, everything in this book is still relevant today, and the powerful pieces on Palestine and Iraq provide a much needed counter-balance to the standard newspaper and TV drivel.

If you don't wish to live in the dark, read this brilliant and hugely important collection and spark debate amongst friends, relatives and colleagues. It is easy to accept the lies peddled by the mass media unless you are given an alternative way of looking at things.