Being born during the tail end of the ‘70s, I don’t have much first-hand knowledge about Vietnam or Asia in general during the 60’s and 70’s. I have, of course, read books and seen movies about the war in Vietnam, but those were mostly from the perspective of soldiers and, while interesting, don’t often delve too deeply into the politics and causes of the war and general unrest in that area of the globe. It was interesting then, to get a background on what actually caused the war (and kept it going) as well as the dominos that fell in the area following the U.S. retreat. Lewis Simons’ new memoir, “To Tell the Truth: My Life as a Foreign Correspondent” gives the reader a first-hand (in the most literal way) account of what was going on in Vietnam and how it affected neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia. He also goes on to discuss political, social and economic issues (that often start and end violently) in India and other areas of the continent.

There are numerous books out there (many recently published) by the Foreign Correspondents of yesteryear, one of which I have read. Back in 2015, I read David Greenway’s memoir, “Foreign Correspondent”, which I found to be good, but tended to drag at times due to Greenway’s exposition. This is where Simons’ book wins out. “To Tell the Truth” has much of the same information about Vietnam, but I found Simons’ book to be much easier to read and more exciting. While Greenway devoted about half of his memoir to Vietnam, Simons devotes only about a quarter to that subject and moves on to tell other tales, such as his involvement with Indira Gandhi’s rise and fall in India as well as Simon’s involvement in toppling a dictator in the Philippines. One of the most interesting bits for me was the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in 1989. I remember hearing about this on the news back then but, being 10 years old, didn’t pay much attention. It’s one of those historical events that you know happened but don’t know much about. This is not to say that Greenway’s book is without merit, but I would recommend Simons’ book over that one. Interestingly, David Greenway is mentioned a couple of times in Simons’ book.

The Vietnam War is something that has always interested me, but I honestly never expected to find Asian politics just as compelling as war. To be honest, some of the other stories were more interesting to me because of my complete lack of knowledge in the area. I often found “To Tell the Truth” hard to put down and had a few groggy mornings as a result. So, even if that doesn’t sound like an area you think you would find interesting, I would still urge you to check out this memoir and give it a chance. This is not a “war journal”, filled with blood, guts, heroics and brotherhood, as is the case with many books written by soldiers. Our hero doesn’t run headfirst into a hail of bullets to take out a platoon of NVA. There are heroics within these pages as well as blood and guts but what you will find here is the story of a man who put himself in harm’s way to get to the truth and make sure that information got to the people of the world. Lewis Simons got the truth out and he made a difference in a time before cell phones, internet and 24-hour news. It all seems more fantastic in 2022 where the truth changes depending on which television channel you’re watching.
Thanks to Rowman & Littlefield and Netgalley for providing me with an Advance Copy of the book. I enjoyed it and encourage other’s to read it as well.

Many veterans of journalism decided to publish theirs memoirs in recent years and for me it is always interesting to read about the golden era of media, when even local newspapers sent their correspondents to far flung places and every story was a collective effort of writers, editors, copy-editors and many more today forgotten specialists. You will find a lot of such details in this book but it is also an engaging lecture on recent history, as the author was an eyewitness to many important events that took place in Asia in the last 50 years. You can even say that his reporting has changed this history.

His passionate advocacy for free press and editorial values may sometimes sound a little naive but it is important to fight the current decline of the media market and lack of trust in journalism. He certainly makes a strong case for it.

Thanks to the publisher, Rowman & Littlefield, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.