Potomac Books
ISBN: 978-1-59797-505-6

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Beyond the Killing Fields — an anthology of major writings on war and its consequences by Sydney Schanberg — spans four decades of work by one of the major war correspondents of the 20th century. This is the first book to include the group of New York Times articles which describe, first-hand, the fall of Cambodia to the Khmer Rouge in April 1975, for which Schanberg was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting "at great risk." In addition, it includes his signature article "The Death and Life of Dith Pran," on which the Academy Award-winning film, The Killing Fields, was based. The film starred Sam Waterston as Schanberg and the late Haing Ngor as Sydney's Cambodian colleague Dith Pran.

In addition to Cambodia, this anthology includes Schanberg's eye-witness accounts of the bloody Bangladesh struggle for independence from a brutal Pakistani regime which ended when the Indian army invaded to help the Bengali fighters and the Pakistanis surrendered. Also here are dispatches from the front lines in Vietnam during the Communists nearly successful offensive in 1972.

Here, too, is Schanberg's extensive investigation of Vietnam POWS left behind by the Nixon Administration as well as his commentary on the Iraq war; both expose secrets and deceptions by the government.

Praise for Beyond the Killing Fields

"There is a biblical quality to this story. What you have in this book is a tremendous, bone-chilling piece of eyewitness war correspondence. What makes it truly extraordinary, however—what makes it a transcendent and classic piece of war literature—is the story of the survival of Dith Pran and the deepening affection between two men from different worlds. Caught up in a war in which the vile and inhuman have become commonplace, two men are reborn by discovering the depths of their own humanity. In the end, they have won a personal victory over war itself."
—Russell Baker, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, humorist, chronicler of American life, former columnist for the New York Times, and former host of Masterpiece Theatre

"I recommend reading this remarkable book all at once, as I did. You'll learn things. You'll be fascinated and moved. It puts the reader where the reporter was and leaves you with an indelible picture of war as it is. The past—and the myriad, uncounted noncombatant victims of three wars—are brought back to life. Sydney Schanberg's writing matches the intensity of the stories he has to tell and makes you feel the hurt. 'This is what it's like. Look,' it says. 'Don't look away.' It's hard, necessary information."
—Sam Waterston, star of the long-running television drama Law & Order, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Schanberg in The Killing Fields

About Sydney Schanberg

Sydney Schanberg was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his New York Times coverage of the fall of Cambodia to the Khmer Rouge in 1975. But his reporting on Cambodia is largely known from "The Killing Fields," the Academy Award-winning film starring Sam Waterston as Schanberg, which was based on his New York Times article chronicling the search for his captured Cambodian colleague Dith Pran and Pran's escape to freedom in 1979.

After returning from Asia, Schanberg was named NY Times Metropolitan Editor and then became an Op-Ed columnist, writing about New York City. In 1985, Schanberg left The Times and spent nine years as an Op-Ed columnist for New York Newsday. He then worked as head of investigations for APBNews.com and later wrote award-winning press criticism at The Village Voice.

Beyond the Killing Fields (Potomac Books, March 2010) is his first book -- an anthology of his reporting and commentary about wars in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia and Iraq.

Read more about Sydney Schanberg