A collection of "first-rate frontline journalism" from the Spanish Civil War to US actions in Central America "by a woman singularly unafraid of guns" (Vanity Fair). For nearly sixty years, Martha Gellhorn's fearless war correspondence made her a leading journalistic voice of her generation. From the Spanish Civil War in 1937 through the Central American wars of the mid-eighties, Gellhorn's candid reporting reflected her deep empathy for people regardless of their political ideology. Collecting the best of Gellhorn's writing on foreign conflicts, and now with a new introduction by Lauren Elkin, The Face of War is a classic of frontline journalism by "the premier war correspondent of the twentieth century" (Ward Just, The New York Times Magazine ). Whether in Java, Finland, the Middle East, or Vietnam, she used the same vigorous approach. "I wrote very fast, as I had to," she says, "afraid that I would forget the exact sound, smell, words, gestures, which were special to this moment and this place." As Merle Rubin noted in his review of this volume for The Christian Science Monitor, "Martha Gellhorn's courageous, independent-minded reportage breaks through geopolitical abstractions and ideological propaganda to take the reader straight to the scene of the event."

“[Blending] cool lyricism and fiery emotion, alternately prickly and welcoming, funny and stern, Gellhorn is one of the most extraordinary women of our era.”— Chicago Sun-Times Spanning more than 40 years and settings that range from Depression-era America to the smartest London dinner parties to the highlands of East Africa, the novellas of Martha Gellhorn display the same qualities that have made her one of the most famous journalists of the twentieth century: an indelible sense of place, prose of breathtaking swiftness and precision, and an unerring fix on the hidden motives of her characters. Above all, Martha Gellhorn explores the ways men and women live privately—and often passionately—amid the rush of history. “Reading Martha Gellhorn for the first time is a staggering experience. She is not a travel writer or a journalist or a novelist: she is all of these, and one of the most eloquent witnesses of the twentieth century.”—Bill Buford, Granta “Martha Gellhorn is one of our very best writers. To the swift and vibrant medium of the [novella], she brings a richness of experience, a tenderness and depth of feeling.”— The Atlantic “Peerless and hilarious . . . Martha Gellhorn is a wittily astringent writer.”— Vogue