You Don't Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War

by Elizabeth Becker

Overview

WINNER OF THE 2022 GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE
WINNER OF THE 2022 SPERBER PRIZE

The long buried story of three extraordinary female journalists who permanently shattered the official and cultural barriers to women covering war.  
Kate Webb, an Australian iconoclast, Catherine Leroy, a French dare devil photographer, and Frances FitzGerald, a blue-blood American intellectual, arrived in Vietnam with starkly different life experiences but one shared purpose: to report on the most consequential story of the decade.
 
At a time when women were considered unfit to be foreign reporters, Frankie, Catherine and Kate paid their own way to war, arrived without jobs, challenged the rules imposed on them by the military, ignored the belittlement and resentment of their male peers and found new ways to explain the war through the people who lived through it.
 
In You Don't Belong Here, Elizabeth Becker uses these women's work and lives to illuminate the Vietnam War from the 1965 American buildup, through the Tet Offensive, the expansion into Cambodia, the American defeat and its aftermath. Arriving herself in the last years of the war, Elizabeth writes as an historian and a witness to what these women accomplished.
 
What emerges is an unforgettable story of three journalists forging their place in a land of men, often at great personal sacrifice, and forever altering the craft of war reportage for generations. Deeply reported and filled with personal letters, interviews, and profound insight, You Don't Belong Here fills a void in the history of women and of war.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541768239
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	02/22/2022
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	153,746
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth Becker is an award-winning journalist and author who began her career as a war correspondent for the Washington Post in Cambodia. She later became the Senior Foreign Editor of the National Public Radio and a New York Times correspondent covering national security and foreign policy. She has been the recipient of numerous awards including accolades from the Overseas Press Club, DuPont Columbia's Awards and was a member of the Times team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in covering 9/11. She is the author of two previous books, When the War was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution, the definitive book on the event that has been in print for thirty-five years and Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism, an exposé of the travel industry.
 
Elizabeth Becker lives in Washington D.C.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

1 Petite Lady 1

2 As Dirty and Tired as They Are 17

3 Fortunate Female 37

4 A Whole New Meaning to the Phrase Foreign Correspondent 61

5 Violence, Madness and Fear and Agony 89

6 How She Came Out of That Alive Is a Miracle 109

7 Three Deaths 133

8 We Were Laughing 147

9 Where Does the Story End? 159

10 Against the Odds 189

11 Saigon Signing Off 209

Epilogue 239

Acknowledgments 249

Notes 253

Index 271

Illustration section appears after page 158

Editorial Reviews

Becker not only shines a light on the contributions of those correspondents — along with the risks they took to show and tell the raw truths of the war as they saw it — but provides a valuable depth of cultural and historical insight into the conflict…There is a fourth woman who rewrote the story of war, and that is of course Elizabeth Becker, who with a depth of research and an abundance of grace gives fresh insight into the background and achievements of three extraordinary war correspondents — and the price they paid for the intensity of their work…“You Don’t Belong Here” is deserving of a wide readership. My guess is that every young woman filled with journalistic ambition will have a copy in her backpack, perhaps as she ventures into a war zone with her laptop, her satellite phone and a sustaining dose of idealism.”—Washington Post

“With controlled anger, in a riveting narrative…  Becker conveys the particular sacrifices that these three women had to make: the indignities, the psychological cost, the elusiveness of stable relationships and children. Still, it’s exhilarating to read Becker’s account of how these women overcame the narrow definitions of their early lives and found themselves by surrendering to the extreme demands of reporting a war.”—The Atlantic

“Compelling… Becker’s book does an excellent job of bringing back what my colleague in Bosnia, the New York Times reporter John F. Burns, once nostalgically called ‘that time, that place, of war.’ She writes beautifully of the heartache the women suffer, their struggles to be taken seriously, the guffaws, the catcalls, the daily small humiliations that amounted to the French photographer’s fierce indictment: You don’t belong here.”—Janine di Giovanni, Foreign Policy

“A prize-worthy page-turner of tension, suspense and drama. The tone of the book intensifies with each chapter…Becker never loses sight of her goal to illuminate these women in the larger context of America’s biggest foreign policy disaster of the 20th century.”—Mike Tharp, Asia Times

“An incisive history of the Vietnam War via the groundbreaking accomplishments of three remarkable women journalists…. A deft, richly illuminating perspective on the Vietnam War.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“An absorbing narrative… Included are gripping stories of Webb's and Becker's coverage of Cambodia's bloody killing fields, and Webb's three-week imprisonment by the North Vietnamese… Readers interested in the Vietnam War and in women's history will be engaged.”—Library Journal

“You Don’t Belong Here provides a fresh perspective not just on how the Second Indochina War was reported, but also on how it can be narrated through the lives of those who witnessed it. In writing it, Becker has made a significant contribution to the history of women in journalism and women in war.”—Mekong Review

“You Don’t Belong Here is a significant contribution to the history of both the Vietnam War and women in journalism.” —Bookpage

“Crisp and incisive… Becker, who also reported from Cambodia in the 1970s, fluidly sketches the history and politics of the Vietnam War and captures her subjects in all their complexity. Readers interested in women’s history and foreign affairs won’t be able to put this fascinating chronicle down.”—Publishers Weekly

“Becker blends [the journalists’] individual stories with wider history, setting the unfolding tragedy in Vietnam in the background as her protagonists develop doubts about the logic and legitimacy of the war. She provides vivid accounts of their journalistic exploits and tales of how they suffered in their work—their injuries, traumas, excessive drinking, and complicated affairs.”—Foreign Affairs

“Whether as a woman’s story or a war story, this should find a wide audience.”—Booklist

"Elizabeth Becker resurrects the long-forgotten stories and enormous sacrifices made by a generation of women who paved the way for the rest of us. Elegant, angry and utterly engaging, it is a long overdue story about a small band of courageous and visionary women.You Don’t Belong Here is a masterpiece of a book."—Rachel Louise Snyder, author of No Visible Bruises

“ A riveting read with much to say about the nature of war and the different ways men and women correspondents cover it. Frank, fast-paced, often enraging, “You Don’t Belong Here” speaks to the distance traveled and the journey still ahead.”
 
—Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize winning author of MARCH, former Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent

From the Publisher

11/30/2020

Journalist Becker (Overbooked) delivers a crisp and incisive group biography of three women who battled sexism and broke new ground while reporting on the Vietnam War and the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. During the 1968 Tet Offensive, French photojournalist Catherine Leroy rode a bicycle into the Communist-occupied city of Hue and took the first pictures of North Vietnamese Army soldiers in South Vietnam (the photos appeared on the cover of Life magazine). Frances FitzGerald, the daughter of a CIA deputy director, circulated among the American elite in South Vietnam, Becker notes, but her reporting, which culminated in the book Fire in the Lake, centered on Vietnamese history and culture and explored how America’s “ham-fisted policies” delegitimized its allies in South Vietnam. In 1971, North Vietnamese soldiers in Cambodia took Australian reporter Kate Webb prisoner and held her for more than two weeks, leading to erroneous reports of her death. Becker, who also reported from Cambodia in the 1970s, fluidly sketches the history and politics of the Vietnam War and captures her subjects in all their complexity. Readers interested in women’s history and foreign affairs won’t be able to put this fascinating chronicle down. Photos. Agent: David Halpern, Robbins Office (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 12/01/2020

Battlefield journalism during the Vietnam War was a man's world, until the four remarkable women depicted here changed the rules. Becker (When the War Was Over) offers an absorbing narrative of French photographer Catherine Leroy, American author Francis Fitzgerald, Australian reporter Kate Webb, and Becker, herself, an American correspondent. These pioneers filed their assignments so skillfully that they become celebrities among their readers and their all-too-often sexually harassing peers. Included are gripping stories of Webb's and Becker's coverage of Cambodia's bloody killing fields, and Webb's three-week imprisonment by the North Vietnamese. The four women shared the common goal of telling the full story of U.S. policy and strategy that led to millions of deaths, destroyed once great cities, and defoliated the countryside. The three women whom Becker concentrates on were honored both during and after the war: Leroy became a national heroine, Fitzgerald wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fire In The Lake, and Webb became the first woman to head a news bureau in a war zone. VERDICT Readers interested in the Vietnam War and in women's history will be engaged. See Joyce Hoffmann's On Their Own: Women Journalists and the American Experience in Vietnam, a compilation of first-person accounts, for additional insight into Vietnam War-era women journalists.—Karl Helicher, formerly with Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA

Library Journal

This is an extraordinary audiobook about four extraordinary women who were war correspondents—the three women who are the subject of Becker’s book, as well as the author herself. Adding to the remarkable story of these groundbreaking journalists is the skill of narrator Lisa Flanagan, who is pitch-perfect throughout this account of the trailblazers. She moves from harrowing action on the battlefields of Vietnam to the high-society backgrounds of two of the future journalists. This is a listen that makes one wonder why one has never heard of these women in history class and leaves one in awe of what they accomplished and overcame at a time when women were typically thought to be too delicate to be war correspondents. Not to be missed. J.P.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2021 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2021 - AudioFile

This is an extraordinary audiobook about four extraordinary women who were war correspondents—the three women who are the subject of Becker’s book, as well as the author herself. Adding to the remarkable story of these groundbreaking journalists is the skill of narrator Lisa Flanagan, who is pitch-perfect throughout this account of the trailblazers. She moves from harrowing action on the battlefields of Vietnam to the high-society backgrounds of two of the future journalists. This is a listen that makes one wonder why one has never heard of these women in history class and leaves one in awe of what they accomplished and overcame at a time when women were typically thought to be too delicate to be war correspondents. Not to be missed. J.P.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2021 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2021 - AudioFile

★ 2020-12-10
An incisive history of the Vietnam War via the groundbreaking accomplishments of three remarkable women journalists.

In her latest, Becker, who has covered war and foreign policy for the Washington Post, NPR, and the New York Times, focuses on the careers of Frances FitzGerald, Kate Webb, and Catherine Leroy, interweaving their stories as they traveled to Vietnam in the mid-1960s. As U.S. involvement was escalating and news organizations continued to send men to chronicle the war, these women paid their own ways and sought out freelance reporting opportunities. French photojournalist Leroy was already a licensed parachutist when she arrived in Saigon in 1966. A year later, she became the first journalist to join in a combat parachute jump, and she gained widespread recognition for her up-close images of soldiers in battle, many published in Life. Webb was an Australian freelance correspondent who eventually became the United Press International bureau chief in Phnom Penh. After being captured by North Vietnamese troops operating in Cambodia in 1971, Webb made international headlines when premature reports of her death led to a New York Times obituary—before she emerged from captivity several days later. FitzGerald’s arrival coincided with the Buddhist uprising in South Vietnam in 1966. Realizing the events could serve as “a window into an unsettling truth about Vietnam,” she sought to understand and write about the Vietnamese on their own terms. Her debut book, Fire in the Lake (1972), won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer and Bancroft prizes. “Leroy, FitzGerald, and Webb were the three pioneers who changed how the story of war was told,” writes Becker. “They were outsiders—excluded by nature from the confines of male journalism, with all its presumptions and easy jingoism—who saw war differently and wrote about it in wholly new ways.” The author was also present as a journalist in the final years when the war shifted to Cambodia, which adds depth and a riveting personal dimension to the book.

A deft, richly illuminating perspective on the Vietnam War.

Kirkus Reviews