Unreasonable Behaviour: An Autobiography

Legendary British photojournalist McCullin ( Hearts of Darkness ; Beirut: A City in Crisis ) has captured the essence of war on film in the Congo, Biafra, Vietnam, Cambodia and Afghanistan. His engrossing autobiography includes 94 examples of his powerful images. Typical of his compassionate yet unsparing work are photographs of a Biafran officer lecturing one of his dead soldiers and of an inmate in a Beirut insane asylum carrying a handicapped child to safety. Aided by freelance writer Chester, McCullin recreates his childhood in London's mean streets and tells us how he got his first assignment. The majority of the book, however, evokes the sad, grim and ghastly moments he brought into focus through his viewfinder and the heavy personal price he paid for those pictures: malaria, broken bones, shrapnel wounds, death threats and a traumatic stint in Idi Ami's most sinister prison. Neither sentimentality, self-pity nor self-congratulation soften the harrowing story of McCullin's quest for the perfect war picture. ( Feb. )