John Pilger Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

John Pilger was born in October 9th 1939 in Sydney, Australia. He was also raised in the same suburb of Sydney at a place called Bondi. His mother’s ancestors were Irish, German and English while those of his father were German. His mother worked as a teacher of French. Pilger schooled at Sydney Boys High School where he was very active in journalism. During the high school time, John started a student newspaper called The Messenger. He was later involved in a cadet-ship by Australian Consolidated Press, where he was training for four years as a journalist. John has a son called Sam born in 1973 and a daughter called Zoe, Born in 1984. He likes swimming, reading, mulling and sunning.

In 1958, John started his career with the Sydney Sun where he worked as a copy boy. He was later offered a job as a reporter, sub-editor and sports writer at the city’s Daily Telegraph. At the same time, John also worked as a freelancer for a daily paper’s sister called the Sydney Sunday Telegraph. John later moved to Italy, Europe where he was for a whole year a freelance.

John has worked as an Australian journalist based in the United Kingdom since 1962. Being driven by the agenda of imperialist, he has played a strong role as a critic of Australian, American and British foreign policies. He is also a critic of the treatment of the indigenous Australians in his native nation and the practices of mainstream media.

During one of his journey to Vietnam in 1970, he was offered a job as a documentary filmmaker by The Quiet Mutiny. Since then, he has continued working as a filmmaker and has now made over sixty documentaries. Some of the renowned work he has done in this role include Year Zero which he produced in 1979 concerning the aftermath regime of pol pot in Cambodia as well as Death of a Nation released in 1993. John based other documentary films on indigenous Australians some of which include Utopia released in 2013 and The Secret Country released in 1985. Utopia premiered in both the television and cinema in London. John was strongly associated with the Daily Mirror and could regularly write column for the magazine, New Statesman since 1991 until 2014.

John Pilger became the chief foreign correspondent and reported from all over the world.He covered numerous wars notably in Vietnam. In his twenties, he became the youngest journalists to receive British awards for journalism

John has won the Britain’s journalist of the year Award twice following his dedicated work in documentary film making. He has also received honorary doctorates severally. John’s documentaries, internationally appearing on the screen have won awards not only in Britain, but also worldwide. In 2003, he was awarded the prestigious Sophie Prize for promoting human rights and exposing injustices for a solid 30 years. Also, he received the Sydney Peace Prize in 2009.

John’s articles are worldwide appearing on newspapers such as the Independent, the Guardian, the Lagos Times, the New York Times as well as the Mail and Guardian.

John is a critic of the many journalists of the mainstream media. When President Bill Clinton was in power in the US, John attacked the British-American project terming it as a freemasonry Atlanticist. He was heard quoting that many members are journalists who are devoted to power and propaganda. In 2002, he also attacked journalists saying that they are no longer channelers and echoers of official truth.

John Pilger started a career on television on Granada television in 1969. While working here, he made two documentaries broadcast in year 1970 and 1971, which were among the earliest in his film career. The Quiet Mutiny broadcast in 1970 presented a character study of the common soldiers of US at the time of Vietnam War. The film revealed morale shift and open rebellion of the troops of America. John later describes the problem associated with morale among US military who are in drafted ranks. Additionally, he made documentaries regarding the United States on how involved themselves in the Vietnam War.

John was somehow successful to gain a regular television outlet at ATV. John’s half-hour documentary series was commissioned by a producer of ATV called Charles Denton for screening on the IVT network. The series was screened for five seasons since 1974 until 1977 running on Sunday afternoons after the Weekend World. It was later rescheduled to a weekday peak time. John was later given an hour’s slot before the News at Ten.

John Pilger’s first book was titled The Last Day. It was first published in 1975 by Mirror Group Books. In this novel, John Pilger was besieged in Vietnam in the American Embassy. He tries to recount hour by hour, the acts that happened lastly in the longest American war. Eventually, John recalls images, events as well as characters from the many years he has known Vietnam.

In his second novel titled Aftermath: The struggles of Cambodia and Vietnam, John recalls the racism and struggles that the indigenous people went through after the Vietnam War. He describes the appalling conditions that the aboriginal people were living under. Children suffered malnutrition and grieving mothers and grandparents watching their children and grandchildren removed by welfare agencies and police. The boys were sent on white run farms to work while girls worked as servants in middle class homes as undeclared slave laborers.

John Pilger is an American journalist who has seen the real racism directed to the indigenous Australians. The numerous tortures that these people went through made him a critic to many. He always did what was necessary according to him and took the necessary step as a journalist to condemn these behaviors. Due to his role, he has gone through a lot through mental and physical torture. This has seen him win the various prizes and awards for the role he played through documentaries film-making. He has won a BAFTA and an Emmy award for his documentaries. His numerous documentaries are celebrated greatly and reveal his country’s forgotten past, more so, it’s indigenous past and present. While working in South East Asia, John produced an iconic issue called the London Mirror. This was devoted almost his entire world dispatches from Cambodia in the aftermath of Pol Pot regime.