9/11 and the Iraq War triggered Margaret Croydens memories of her long ago encounters with war, when she was embedded with American occupation troops in France and Germany just after World War II. Her experiences as an actress in an Army unit that entertained the troops launched her transformation from a provincial Brooklyn girl dreaming of glamorous Broadway stardom into an international theater journalist. Drawing from diaries, tapes, and memories, she recounts her youthful adventures and struggles and a later transformation, this time ideological, wrought by visits to Berlin, Moscow, Leningrad, Beirut, and Jerusalem to report the theater scene and interview cultural and political leaders. Her vivid descriptions reveal a sharp mind, a critical eye, a humanistic sensibility, and a fearless dedication to the truth.
