At the barricades

Wilfred Burchett is a unique radical journalist, the only Western writer to have gained access to all the contending capitals of the world throughout the past half-century. From the thirties in Nazi Germany to war-torn south-east Asia, he has travelled the world in pursuit of the momentous stories of our time. He was the first Western journalist to reach Hiroshima, just two days after Japan's surrender. He was with the forces spearheading the Allied invasion of Germany. He sat on the trial of Cardinal Mindszenty. He acted as Henry Kissinger's go-between with the Vietcong. His exclusive dispatches have captured the world's attention again and again. He helped smuggle Jews out of Germany; he traversed the famous Burma road; he met Chou-en-lai in China in the late forties. Through it all he was 'just doing his job' - reporting to the world what he saw.