The Girl in the Picture -The Kim Phuc Story - Signed by the Author

Book and dustjacket in excellent condition. The Girl in the Picture is the sensitive and timely story of Kim Phuc - the nine-year-old Vietnamese child who was the subject of one of the most famous photographs ever taken. The daughter of well-off South Vietnamese parents, Kim's life changed dramatically and forever when the South Vietnamese military mistakenly bombed the highway outside her village with napalm. Running from the temple where she and other villagers, mostly women and children were hiding, Kim tore the burning clothes from her back. Seconds before the pain overtook her, her image was immortalized on film which won a Pulitzer prize and which has been credited with prompting wide-spread support for the American anti-war effort and hastening the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam. Despite beging savagely burned, Kim survived. The years following the attack were an agonizing cycle of pain and conflict. A symbol of the tragedy of the Vietnam war for those in the West who had her image etched in their minds, Kim became a celebrity. However, at home, she was a pawn in the hands of officials who turned her into a propaganda tool for her country's Communist regime. Watching her future slip away from her as her family struggled to support themselves in post-war Vietnam, Kim embarked on a series of extraordinary escapes that eventually earned her a new life in Canada. Signed by the author - first printing Published by Viking Press 1999 373 pages