Unreasonable Behaviour: An Autobiography

Description

Don McCullin's war photographs - taken over 30 years under fire in Cyprus, with the Israelis, in Biafra, Vietnam, Cambodia and Lebanon - are a harrowing testimony of man's inhumanity to man. Though they have appeared in the world's leading newspapers and more than one bestselling book, not until now have we heard at first hand the extraordinary story of his life. Vulnerable, rebellious, defensive, shy but passionate about his craft and the English countryside, he gives us the full fury of his resentment at the deprivation of his childhood. He is no less sparing of our emotions when writing about those he sees suffering even more than himself. During Hitler's war he was evacuated but returned to grinding poverty in London to finish his toughening and growing up, stealing coal to keep his father warm when he was dying. The gang warfare of his youth bred in him a suicidal courage that again and again would have earned him medals as a serving soldier. His struggle to come to terms with the sophistication of Fleet Street was as bewildering to him as photographing starving children in the Congo one day and sitting down to a full table with his own family the next.

Sir Don McCullin grew up in north London. He worked for the Sunday Times for eighteen years and covered every major conflict in his adult lifetime until the Falklands War. The finest British photojournalist of his generation, he has received many honours and awards including the CBE. He received a knighthood in the 2017 New Year honours list. He lives in Somerset.

"He has known all forms of fear, he's an expert in it. He has come back from God knows how many brinks, all different. His experience in a Ugandan prison alone would be enough to unhinge another man - like myself, as a matter of fact - for good. He has been forfeit more times than he can remember, he says. But he is not bragging. Talking this way about death and risk, he seems to be implying quite consciously that by testing his luck each time, he is testing his Maker's indulgence." -- John le Carre "If this was just a book of McCullin's war photographs it would be valuable enough. But it is much more." Sunday Correspondent "From the opening...there is hardly a dull sentence: his prose is so lively and uninhibited... An excellent book." Sunday Telegraph "If anyone is the living embodiment of the power of a photo, it is Don McCullin." -- Christina Lamb Sunday Times "This is a great book not just for those with an interest in photography, but also for those with an interest in modern history." -- Oliver Atwell Amateur Photographer