Martha Gellhorn, The Face of War: A Chronicle of War 1936–1988

American journalist Martha Gellhorn witnessed the greatest military conflicts of the 20th century: from the Spanish Civil War to World War II, from the Soviet-Finnish War to the Arab-Israeli War, from the American invasion of Vietnam to the conflicts in El Salvador and Nicaragua in the 1980s. Disdaining the lies of official press releases, Gellhorn plunged into the thick of things, interacting with soldiers, the wounded, and refugees, and documenting what war looks like for ordinary people caught in its millstones. Her collection of reports, "The Face of War," spans nearly fifty years of bloodshed and failed attempts to establish a lasting peace. It is a stark, slap-in-the-face commentary on the state of humanity, one that remains just as relevant today as it was half a century ago.

"The Face of War" combines young Martha Gellhorn's poignant reports from the 20th-century's hot spots with a powerful journalistic narrative. The book is rich in disillusionment, but also in faith in humanity: Gellhorn hopes that people will survive, despite their inability to learn from their mistakes. And only honesty, courage, and compassion will help them along the way.
— Olga Allenova, journalist

"A superb anti-war book that reads as if it were written today. Journalists rarely succeed in combining texts from different years into a coherent work, but Gellhorn's reports, when gathered together, form a grand picture."
— New York Times