Rating: 
Summary: A very personal account of life as a war correspondent.
Review: "River of Time" is perhaps the most intimate account yet published by the war correspondents and journalists who came of age in Southeast Asia. The author goes to great lengths to reveal all, even aspects which he knows many readers will find personally unflattering. This work is an emotional one totally different in tone from his colleague Robert Sam Anson's more hard-edged but equally distinguished work on the same subject, "War News". Unable to shake his admitted addition to seeking both the truth and personal fame in pursuit of same, Swain abandoned the love of his life for what became yet another hostage experience in Africa. His more recent brushes with death in East Timor show that his one-track obsession with his vocation remains intact. All those who once lost their hearts to Southeast Asia will see a little of themselves in Jon Swain's realistic and accurate self-portrait. A valuable work by a charming an complex man widely admired by his colleagues in the field and by his readers around the world.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful journey
Review: "River of Time" is perhaps the most intimate account yet published by the war correspondents and journalists who came of age in Southeast Asia. The author goes to great lengths to reveal all, even aspects which he knows many readers will find personally unflattering. This work is an emotional one totally different in tone from his colleague Robert Sam Anson's more hard-edged but equally distinguished work on the same subject, "War News". Unable to shake his admitted addition to seeking both the truth and personal fame in pursuit of same, Swain abandoned the love of his life for what became yet another hostage experience in Africa. His more recent brushes with death in East Timor show that his one-track obsession with his vocation remains intact. All those who once lost their hearts to Southeast Asia will see a little of themselves in Jon Swain's realistic and accurate self-portrait. A valuable work by a charming an complex man widely admired by his colleagues in the field and by his readers around the world.
Rating:
Summary: A very personal account of life as a war correspondent.
Review: "River of Time" is perhaps the most intimate account yet published by the war correspondents and journalists who came of age in Southeast Asia. The author goes to great lengths to reveal all, even aspects which he knows many readers will find personally unflattering. This work is an emotional one totally different in tone from his colleague Robert Sam Anson's more hard-edged but equally distinguished work on the same subject, "War News". Unable to shake his admitted addition to seeking both the truth and personal fame in pursuit of same, Swain abandoned the love of his life for what became yet another hostage experience in Africa. His more recent brushes with death in East Timor show that his one-track obsession with his vocation remains intact. All those who once lost their hearts to Southeast Asia will see a little of themselves in Jon Swain's realistic and accurate self-portrait. A valuable work by a charming an complex man widely admired by his colleagues in the field and by his readers around the world.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful and tragic story of love and war
Review: A book you can not put down. An important account of the atrocities of the Cambodian communists and the evilness of mankind. Well-written portraits of fascinating and original personalities, beautiful descriptions of cambodian culture. The book is honest and reveiling in its portrayals of the decadent and thrilling lives of war-time journalists and photographers. It is an important historical account of the misery endured by a beautiful people not long ago.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to put down, a wonderful book
Review: An ideal book for those who were there and wish to relive 1970's Cambodia and Vietnam, or for those who enjoy a lively, interesting and at times shocking read. Jon Swain does an excellent job at explaining the spell Indochina casts on all those that have lived there.
Rating:
Summary: The Asian Holocaust through the eyes of a British reporter
Review: Cambodia was beautiful when Swain first arrived and he, a young journalist, relished it all, from the natural beauty of the country to the fine French food and legal opium dens. Trouble was coming though, although no one at that time could have imagined the horror.Swain also went to Vietnam, which at the time was full of Americans. He rode on helicopters out to the battlefield, helped rescue victims of a bombing in a movie theater, and fell in love. His descriptions and experiences, from a British point of view, adds his own special twist to the vast body of work I have read about Vietnam by Americans. In spite of the danger, he voluntarily returned to Cambodia to experience the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge and would have been executed if it were not for the intervention of Dith Pran, the Cambodian journalist who is best known for his role in the movie The Killing Fields. Swain was captive in the French Embassy and experienced the agony of families being torn apart and marched off to their brutal deaths. All of these experiences are captured in riveting detail and I couldn't put the book down in spite of the gruesome realistic details on every page. There are horrors, adventure and a lust for writing a good story and reporting the truths to the world. I applaud him and the profession of journalism for that.
Rating:
Summary: The Asian Holocaust through the eyes of a British reporter
Review: Cambodia was beautiful when Swain first arrived and he, a young journalist, relished it all, from the natural beauty of the country to the fine French food and legal opium dens. Trouble was coming though, although no one at that time could have imagined the horror. Swain also went to Vietnam, which at the time was full of Americans. He rode on helicopters out to the battlefield, helped rescue victims of a bombing in a movie theater, and fell in love. His descriptions and experiences, from a British point of view, adds his own special twist to the vast body of work I have read about Vietnam by Americans. In spite of the danger, he voluntarily returned to Cambodia to experience the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge and would have been executed if it were not for the intervention of Dith Pran, the Cambodian journalist who is best known for his role in the movie The Killing Fields. Swain was captive in the French Embassy and experienced the agony of families being torn apart and marched off to their brutal deaths. All of these experiences are captured in riveting detail and I couldn't put the book down in spite of the gruesome realistic details on every page. There are horrors, adventure and a lust for writing a good story and reporting the truths to the world. I applaud him and the profession of journalism for that.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most moving books I have ever read
Review: Fantastic memoir of Jon Swain's time in Indochina, an extremely poignant and personal summary of a tragic war. I purchased this book "for something to read", but found myself moved to tears. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in the plight of the Cambodians. Such a great lesson could have been learnt, unfortunately we now see a repeat occurrence in East Timor.
Rating:
Summary: River of Time
Review: Few books are as heart wrenching as this one is. It is at once tragic and beautiful. The tears could not be held back even for a pretty hardened person like myself. The total devastation of the Indochina war to a country and its people is beyond words. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A beautifully written book
Review: I bought this book recently in my hotel's bookstore in Siem Reap, Cambodia during a short holiday there to see Angkor Wat. It is truly a great read ! River of Time has given me a new insight on the appeal of Indo-China and its tragic history. And Jon Swain's writing is powerful and moving.
| 
