Muddy Boots and Red Socks is a captivating adventure story and memoir by Malcolm Browne, a Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent who, along with colleagues David Halberstam and Neil Sheehan, redefined the craft of war reporting in Viet Nam.In the course of Browne's thirty years as a journalist, he has been shot down three times from combat aircraft, bombarded by Scud missiles in Saudi Arabia, detained by Bulgarian soldiers, and expelled from half a dozen countries, including Chile and Romania; placed on a palace death list in Viet Nam, choked with tear gas in Afghanistan, knocked out of bed by earthquakes, and called a "panty-waisted liberal sensationalist" by John Wayne.In the engaging voice of an unlikely swashbuckler, Browne takes us on journalistic tours through South America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Antarctica as a reporter for the Associated Press, ABC News, and The New York Times. He also tells a warm and evocative personal story, of growing up in New York in the aftermath of the Great Depression, studying by the soft light of kerosene lamps, and becoming fascinated by explosions, whether from firecrackers or his own chemistry experiments.When Browne was drafted in 1956, he was trained to operate tanks, but after he was shipped to Korea, the army transformed him into a journalist. The change eventually led him to abandon chemistry, the career he had pursued as a civilian, and become a reporter.Browne knows the terrain of war. In Pakistan, he had to bail out of a motorboat and hide underwater, breathing through a hollow reed, while an enemy helicopter hovered overhead. In Cuba, he discovered that the hit men, like the whores, "were good at their jobs and came cheap." In Viet Nam, he learned that war is mostly about waiting and that the anticipation of death is worse than death itself.Browne knows how it feels to dive 12,000 feet from a jet fighter - "like an ice pick driven into the ear." And, while walking through hostile territory, he quickly grasped the importance of putting his feet exactly where the soldier ahead of him had stepped in order to avoid land mines. He has trekked through the Himalayas, visited an opium den, searched for Attila the Hun's tomb, and actually eaten crow.From his global travels, Browne has drawn some conclusions about the state of the world and how to think about issues such as the population explosion and tribal conflict. As a former chemist, Browne writes with scientific insight and precision. Whether he is observing the explosion of a blazing supernova from the heights of the Chilean Andes or hunting for Nazis in Argentina, Malcolm Browne is a remarkable reporter. His journey is unforgettably vivid. His memoir is superb. Read Less