David Douglas Duncan - I Protest ! - 1968

RARE OPPORTUNITY to buy this VERY IMPORTANT PHOTOBOOK:

Never published in pocket-book format, only in small formats in 1968 (!).

The book is a tour de force of anger, both in its words and its images.
Duncan wrote it upon his return from the cover of the battle of Khe Sanh, and in this text, he explores and critiques American military tactics, and in fact, his place in the world.

David Douglas Duncan - I Protest! - 1968 - New American Library -
128 pages -

Good binding condition, the work in its original full soft illustrated covers, one corner slightly cracked, smooth red spine titled in black, superb illustrations on the boards -

Very good interior condition, work enriched with numerous black-and-white photographs hors texte including in the frontispiece and on double pages -

Delivery service guaranteed within a few days –

David Douglas Duncan (1916 - 2018) was an American photojournalist, known for his dramatic combat photographs, as well as for his extensive domestic photography of Pablo Picasso and his wife Jacqueline.
Duncan was born in Kansas City, Missouri, where his childhood was marked by an interest in nature, which allowed him to obtain the rank of Scrub Scout at a relatively young age. A slide presentation by big-game hunter and physician Richard Lightburn Sutton, at Duncan’s elementary school in Kansas City, sparked in him an early interest in photography and travel around the world. Duncan briefly attended the University of Arizona, where he studied archaeology. In Tucson, he involuntarily photographed John Dillinger attempting to enter a hotel. Duncan eventually pursued his studies at the University of Miami, where he earned a degree in 1938, studying zoology and Spanish. It was in Miami that his interest in photojournalism truly began. He worked as editor-in-chief of images and photographer for the student newspaper.
His career as a photojournalist began when he photographed a fire in a hotel in Tucson, Arizona, while studying archaeology at the nearby University of Arizona. His photos included a hotel guest who repeatedly tried to return to the burning building to retrieve his suitcase. This photo proved noteworthy when the client turned out to be the infamous bank robber John Dillinger, and the suitcase contained the proceeds of a bank robbery in which he had shot a police officer. Unfortunately, after the film was handed in to the Tucson Citizen, it was lost forever, and the photos were never printed.

After college, Duncan began freelancing, selling his work to such magazines as The Kansas City Star, Life and National Geographic.
After the Pearl Harbor attack, Duncan joined the Marine Corps, earned the rank of officer and became a combat photographer. After brief assignments in California and Hawaii, he was sent to the South Pacific on a mission when the United States entered World War II. As a lieutenant, he first served with Marine Air Group 23 and was later assigned to photography for the South Pacific Combat Air Transport Command operations. Although combat photographers are often close to the action, they rarely fight. However, during a brief skirmish on Bougainville, Duncan found himself fighting against the Japanese. Duncan also covered the Battle of Okinawa and was aboard the USS Missouri at the Japanese surrender.

Duncan’s war photographs were so impressive that after the war, he was hired by Life to join its staff, following encouragement from J. R. Eyerman, Life’s chief photographer. During his time at Life, Duncan covered many events, including the end of British rule in India and conflicts in Turkey, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Perhaps his most famous photographs were taken during the Korean War. He compiled many of them into a book, This Is War!, (1951), the proceeds of which went to the widows and children of Marines killed in the conflict. Duncan is regarded as the most eminent war photographer of the Korean War.
His photo and his conversation with Marines during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir are remarkable.
I asked him: “If I were God, what would you want for Christmas?” Duncan said. “He simply looked up at the sky and said: ‘Give me tomorrow.’”
Following the Vietnam War, Duncan eventually compiled two more books, I Protest! (1968) and War Without Heroes (1970). Here, Duncan abandoned impartiality and challenged the way the war was conducted by the American government.

Besides his combat photographs, Duncan is also known for informal photographs taken in the homes of Pablo Picasso and his second wife Jacqueline Roque, begun in 1956 on the suggestion of photographer Robert Capa. He published seven books of Picasso photographs in total. Duncan became a close friend of Picasso and was the only person authorized to photograph several of Picasso’s private paintings. Duncan lived in Castellaras, France, near Mougins, where Picasso spent the last 12 years of his life.

Duncan greatly helped Nippon Kogaku (Nikon) during its early years, and in 1965, he received the 200,000th Nikon F produced, in recognition of his use and promotion of their camera.
In 1966, he published Yankee Nomad, a visual autobiography that gathered representative photographs from throughout his career. In 2003, it was revised and published under the title Photo Nomad.
Duncan photographed both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions of 1968, and published photographs from these conventions in a coffee-table book entitled Self-Portrait U.S.A. in 1969.
Duncan traveled extensively in the Middle East, having been stationed there ten years after World War II for Life. He then published The World of Allah in 1982.
He celebrated his 100th birthday in January 2016 and died in June 2018 in Grasse, France, at the age of 102.
In 2021, Duncan was inducted posthumously into the Hall of Fame and the International Photography Hall of Fame.
Wikipedia