Means of Escape: A War Correspondent's Memoir of Life and Death in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Vietnam [Paperback]

A riveting memoir of years of living dangerously. Kirkus Reviews

For the countless readers who have admired Philip Caputo's classic memoir of Vietnam,A Rumor of War, here is his powerful recounting of his life and adventures, updated with a foreword that assesses the state of the world and the journalist's art.

As a journalist, Caputo has covered many of the world's troubles, and inMeans of Escape, he tells the reader in moving and clear-eyed prose how he made himself into a writer, traveler, and observer with the nerve to put himself at the center of the world's conflicts. As a young reporter he investigated the Mafia in Chicago, earning acclaim as well as threats against his safety. Later, he rode camels through the desert and enjoyed Bedouin hospitality, was kidnapped and held captive by Islamic extremists, and was targeted and hit by sniper fire in Beirut, with memories of Vietnam never far from the surface. And after it all, he went into Afghanistan. Caputo's goal has always been to bear witness to the crimes, ambitions, fears, ferocities, and hopes of humanity. WithMeans of Escape, he has done so.

Philip Caputois the author of theNew York TimesbestsellerA Rumor of Warand the novelsIndian Country,DelCorso's Gallery, andHorn of Africa. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 as part of an investigative team for theChicago Tribune, and his coverage of his experience as a captive of Palestinian guerrillas won him the Overseas Press Club's George Polk Citation.

An episodic, impressionistic, and dead-honest narrative that affords memorable as well as consequential insights into a chaotic era's noteworthy conflicts. Kirkus Reviews

This is, make no mistake about it, a startlingly honest and brutal book....The writing is suberb. Highly recommended for all. Library Journal