Sir Don McCullin, who turns 91 in Autumn 2026, presents a retrospective of his time in Vietnam. It captures over three sections or ‘campaigns’ the individual trips he made to the region throughout the war. Sir Don has indicated that this will be his ‘last ever book’.
Sir Don’s photographic work from the three campaigns can be found in this book. It is the result of a deep archival excavation of his images, featuring approximately a hundred black and white photographs and more than twenty colour photographs. Nearly half of them have never been previously published in print or exhibited before. It contains well-known images of Marines sit alongside shots of domestic life caught amidst the battlefield; dead or dying men and women smoked out of bunkers, and piles of human and mechanical detritus amidst the fog of war.
The structure of Vietnam follows McCullin’s journey through four distinct times in Vietnam, covering 1965 to 1972; 1965–1967, 1968, and 1972. The collection is drawn from around thirty rolls of film taken on each trip, many of which contain images that were overshadowed by his most famous works but are now being given their proper due.
Details from an intimate perspective of war
Edited in close collaboration with McCullin himself and with GOST Books Director Stuart Smith, Vietnam also provides intimate perspective through the inclusion of his own personal notes, commentary, and ephemeral materials; McCullin’s boot, spreads from the famous 1968 Sunday Times feature, his helmet, and his ID cards. Also included are contact sheets and the ‘backs’ of photos depicting press use, notes, and editing plans.
The captions in the book, recorded from conversations between Smith and McCullin in 2026, also a way of storytelling used by McCullin for the first time, provide a comprehensive recording of his Vietnam experiences. They reflect on the fear, horror, devastation, shame, violence, bloodshed and extreme trauma from war and conflict; looking back with reflection and distance. It is the first time McCullin has shared these stories in this depth.
Sir Don McCullin recalls in the book, “I had come to Vietnam during the Tet Offensive of 1968 to capture what threatened to be an ugly fight: At the centre of Hue was an old imperial fortress called the Citadel; the city was filled with thousands of civilians. U.S. Marines had been surprised by the North’s attack, and they were unprepared for house-to-house guerrilla warfare. Sunday newspaper subscribers needed to see pictures of the ensuing battle, I thought.
At 32, I’d already covered wars in Congo, Cyprus, and Israel. I’d witnessed combat up close. I reviled violence, always, but journalism had also inculcated me with a certain dutiful attraction to conflict. I thought that in Hue, like elsewhere, I’d be able to walk right up to the fight and photograph it. I thought I had the stomach for the Tet Offensive. But during 11 days inside the Citadel, I beheld all the ways that men live and die in war. I shot wars after Hue, but nothing so intense and dangerous. I witnessed the most incredible courage, too. But for what?” Sir Don McCullin
Sir Don McCullin’s biography
Don McCullin (b.1935) grew up in Finsbury Park, London. He began taking photographs during his military service and brought his camera back with him to the UK, beginning what would be a life-long commitment to photography. In 1961 McCullin travelled to Berlin just as the wall was going up, and his resulting photographs earned him a contract with The Observer.
He went on to work for major British newspapers during some of the most violent conflicts of the late twentieth-century including Vietnam, Biafra, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Northern Ireland and more recently Iraq and Syria.
Whenever he returned home, McCullin would turn his lens on still-life and landscape as a kind of therapy and solace. His landscapes have been the subject of solo exhibitions at international galleries, Hauser & Wirth and Hamilton’s Gallery, and are held in the collection of Tate, London where McCullin enjoyed a major retrospective in 2019.
Published works
GOST have worked with McCullin on three books until now: Life, Death and Everything in Between, The Roman Conceit, and The Stillness of Life.
Three special print editions are also available to coincide with the book; one printed by McCullin in his dark room and signed, and two more printed by legendary photographic printer Brian Dowling and signed by McCullin. These also were on pre-sale from June 12, 2026.
| Vietnam Don McCullin: Prices outside the UK for the signed books and prints are available on request from GOST Books Vietnam Store | |
| Standard book ISBN 978-1-80598-046-9: Pricing in UK £80 including tax, USA $105 taxes not applied. | Signed book: £100 ISBN 978-1-80598-047-6 |
| Special editions: Colour image 1 edition of 15; Colour image 2 editions of 15; B&W image edition of 9 (16×20 inches) | From £2,500 ISBN 978-1-80598-051-3 (Japanese paper) |
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