When Maggie Kilgore, author of “Remember to Laugh: Writing My Way Around the World,” began her career in journalism, it was a male- dominated profession. She was the first female reporter hired by the Columbus bureau of the United Press International wire service. Nearly half a century later, Kilgore’s experiences have included reporting on some of the most pivotal times in our nation’s recent history. Although Kilgore’s life consisted of much more traveling and extraordinary circumstances than the average reader can relate to, the lessons she learned and message she passes on though her memoir is applicable to anyone: “Enjoy life, have adventures, try to create opportunities for yourself and others, and don’t be afraid to take a chance,” Kilgore said. Above all, remember to laugh.

Remember To Laugh: Writing My Way Around the World

Maggie Kilgore
Palari Publishing (2006)
ISBN 1928662374
Reviewed by Mary Greenwood for Reader Views (11/06)


The book “Remember to Laugh” is the true story of Maggie Kilgore’s life as a reporter in Washington and a foreign correspondent in Vietnam.  Coming from a newspaper family in Ohio, Kilgore started her career with the UPI (United Press International) and came on the Washington scene during the turbulent 1960’s. After her stint as a foreign correspondent in Vietnam in the early 1970’s, she worked as a financial consultant for the LA Times and later for the casino industry in Las Vegas. She started writing this memoir after a 30-year Vietnam reunion.  Through her writing, Maggie Kilgore comes across as an energetic, adventurous, funny, independent and spunky reporter, who reminds me of Lois Lane.

“Remember to Laugh” is full of funny anecdotes from a life lived in the early days of journalism where it was a man’s world and  women reporters were generally expected to write about domestic issues such as cookbooks or the society page. The “foreward” is written by Helen Thomas, who worked fifty years for UPI and was the first woman to run its White House Bureau.  Thomas can still be seen at White House briefings where she continues to be a role model for women reporters.  In Ms. Kilgore’s own introduction, she says that her book’s goal is to amuse and she accomplishes that goal.  One of the funniest stories took place on a troop plane in Vietnam when the Captain asked her to sit with him in the cockpit. She refused but soon she found out that the reason for this invitation was that the men used the open back of the plane as a latrine and her presence hindered that practice. When she realized this, she went to sit with the captain.

The most interesting part of the book for this reader was her two-year stint in Vietnam as a foreign correspondent.  Her memories, and insider knowledge about the politicians and personalities, are the backdrop for the major stories of the Vietnam War. However, I would like to know more about the serious side of her beat and her personal opinions. I hope one day she will consider another book with a more serious focus.

With the advent of the internet, computers and imbedded journalists, it is interesting to get the inside perspective from someone who has succeeded as a journalist during the major stories of the 1960’s and 1970’s through good old-fashioned reporting. I would recommend “Remember to Laugh” to anyone who wants to know more about women in journalism, or about Vietnam or  about the history of the US in the 60’s and 70’s or anyone who anyone who just wants to  laugh.