First published 2021
Nick Ut arrives in Hollywood carrying more than camera equipment. The young photographer from Vietnam's Mekong Delta has already captured the image that will define his career: the Pulitzer Prize winning "Napalm Girl photo" showing Kim Phuc fleeing burned and naked from her village. Now Ut must navigate a new battlefield on the streets of Los Angeles, trading war zones for red carpets as he photographs celebrities like Marlon Brando, Paris Hilton, and Jane Fonda. But danger follows him even here as he documents the LA riots and California wildfires. Through it all, his connection to Kim Phuc endures, growing from a single moment of horror into decades of friendship. When she undergoes experimental treatment for her scars in 2015, "Uncle Nick" stands ready with his camera once again. This dual narrative traces both Ut's remarkable career and the lasting power of his most famous photograph.
Genres: 20th-century, war, biography-memoir, 21st-century, journalism, photography
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, friendship
Setting: Hollywood, Los Angeles, Vietnam, Mekong Delta
Period: Vietnam War, LA Riots, California Wildfires
216 pages · Paperback · Associated Press
Content warnings: violence, war