06 Nov 2014   

Journalist Brings Third-World to Life in New Book of Photo Essays

GROUNDTRUTH: Work Play and Conflict in the Third World, by Ben Barber, is a new book of photographs and vignettes that tell the tale of life in the developing countries from Thailand to India to Morocco to Haiti.

                
“Ben Barber captures people at work and play, in crisis and recovery, where they tell their own stories in a way which begins to correct the distorted image of life in the developing world.” Andrew Natsios, former Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development.

Because we know little about the way people live and think in distant and poor countries, America has stumbled into Third World conflicts in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and now possibly Syria. This book is an attempt to bridge the gap of understanding and provide what intelligence officers call “groundtruth,” the feeling of real life in countries.

Ben Barber has covered the Third World for 35 years as a reporter and photographer for USA TODAY, The Baltimore Sun, Newsday, the New York Times, the London Observer, the Toronto Globe and Mail, the Washington Times, Christian Science Monitor and other publications. Currently he writes for Huffington Post and McClatchy newspapers.

While on assignment as a reporter, he shot photos of some of the great events and struggles of our times. But editors wanted pictures of fighting and suffering and not the many photos he took of people in their normal lives.

Rather than wallowing in stereotypes of countries seen only as poor, sick and dangerous, Barber found millions of wonderful and creative people struggling to feed their families, educate their kids and find peace and harmony in their lives.

The photos in his newly published book GROUNDTRUTH show the real face of humanity. Although living in ancient villages and working with ancient tools, these people express joy in their faces and become as real as our own brothers and sisters, our aunts and uncles.

Copies of GROUNDTRUTH are now available for purchase for $30 a copy at www.benabarber.com or contact the author at benbarber2@hotmail.com.

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Ben Barber has covered the Third World for 35 years as a reporter and photographer for USA TODAY, The Baltimore Sun, Newsday, the New York Times, the London Observer, the Toronto Globe and Mail, the  Washington Times, Christian Science Monitor and other publications. Currently, he writes for Huffington Post and McClatchy newspapers. He resides in Rockville, Maryland.