The Real Vietnam: Spectacular Collection Of Historic Images Taken By Courageous AP War Photographers That Left Lasting Impression On America (Photo Essay)

Huet's photographs of the war were influential in moulding American public opinion. A series of twelve photographs was published in the 11 February 1966 edition of LIFE magazine, with one of the haunting images featuring on the cover.

By Helen Pow 

The Vietnam War left a deep and lasting impression on not just the soldiers who fought but the whole of America.

And the superb photojournalism by the Associated Press' Saigon bureau was largely responsible for sharing the bravery and drama of the conflict with those at home.

A spectacular new book entitled 'Vietnam: The Real War' has collected some 300 of the most historic AP images - from Malcolm Browne's image of the burning monk to Nick Ut's photograph of a 9-year-old running from a napalm attack to Eddie Adams' picture of the execution of a Viet Cong prisoner - that serve as a photographic record of the Vietnam War.

Writer Pete Hamill gives a moving tribute to the unbelievably brave AP photojournalists who reported from the frontline half a century ago to share the harrowing truths of war, some paying the ultimate price. The AP earned six Pulitzer Prizes, including four for photography, for its Vietnam War coverage.

'Across the years of the war in Vietnam, the AP photographers saw more combat than any general, Hamill explains in his introduction. 'This book shows how good they were... From Vietnam, photographers taught the world how to see the war.'

'Vietnam: The Real War' is being published on October 1 by Abrams Books in the U.S. and Canada, and by Abrams & Chronicle Books in the UK. The book's publication will coincide with an exhibition at the Steven Kasher Gallery in Manhattan, which opens October 24 and will run through November 26.

Vietnam: The Real War is being published on Oct. 1 by Abrams Books in the U.S. and Canada, and by Abrams & Chronicle Books in the UK

Horst Faas was a German photo-journalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who later was editor of The Associated Press staff in Saigon

Henri Huet, a French war photographer for The Associated Press, died in 1971 when the helicopter he and three other photojournalists were in was shot down over the most heavily defended area of the Ho Chi Minh trail

John T. Wheeler's photograph of an injured soldier on the operating table is featured in the nook

New Zealand journalist Peter Gregg Arnett worked for National Geographic magazine, and later for various television networks, most notably CNN as well as AP. He won a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting 

Malcolm Wilde Browne was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and photographer. His best known work was the award-winning photograph of the self-immolation of Buddhist monk Thích Qu¿ng ¿¿c in 1963, pictured. He died in 2012

Horst Faas' images of the Vietnam War won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1965. In 1967 he was severely wounded in the legs by an rocket-propelled grenade and used a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He died in 2012

Henri Huet was respected for his dedication, bravery and skill in the field, and known for his sense of humor and kindness. He was 43 when he was killed

The AP earned six Pulitzer Prizes, including four for photography, for its Vietnam War coverage

The book 'Vietnam: The Real War' will be published to coincide with an exhibition of images at New York's Steven Kasher Gallery