Paolo Pellegrin’s *As I Was Dying* gathers photographs made between 1998 and 2006 on victims of war and natural disasters, including images from Afghanistan, Gaza, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, and Palestine. The book brings together Pellegrin’s images of human suffering within areas of conflict and war. The title states its terms plainly, and the photographs focus on those who endure the consequences of war.

Pellegrin captures both the horror and despair of war, and his photographs convey the powerlessness of those who are victim to it, as they witness the destruction of their homes and the death of their loved ones. Across seventy photographs, the book speaks to the unbearable suffering of many people rather than the combatants who direct conflict. The images are forceful and unforgettable, and the sequence gives voice to loss and endurance inside ruin.

Pellegrin was born in Rome in 1964. He joined Magnum Photos in 2001 and has been a Newsweek contract photographer since 2000. His awards include the Eugene Smith Award, the Vis d’Or, World Press awards, the Hasselblad Grant, the Robert Capa Gold Medal, and the Olivier Rebot Award. He has published five previous books and has exhibited widely in Europe and the United States. He lives in Rome and New York.

Dewi Lewis issued the hardback in 2007. The book has 140 pages and 70 photographs, measuring 244mm x 301mm. It won the European Publishers Award for Photography. For a collector, the interest lies in this particular object: a body of work drawn from multiple conflicts and disasters and shaped into a single volume. It remains a demanding record of what war asks of civilians.