Riots & Revolutions

Carol Goldstein Abaya Is an international award-winning journalist. She was the very first female journalist to travel extensively around the world and to interview heads of state one-on-one in developing countries with unstable economies.

At a time when young women went to college for a MRS degree, Carol developed a love for world politics. After receiving her B. A. from the University of Wisconsin and a Masters in international relations from New York University, she traveled the world -- alone.

This story is about her adventures and evolved from her memories, the numerous articles she wrote and that were published in newspapers and magazines around the world, and the lengthy letters she wrote to her mother and father.

She was in India during the 1962 Chinese invasion (which she predicted); in Indonesia during the 1963 anti-Malaysia campaign and the 1965 communist revolution (which she predicted); and in the Philippines during the 1972 anti-government demonstrations and subsequent coup. In 1967 she was the only American journalist to travel through all of the Israeli occupied territories after the Six Day War.

Wherever she went -- India, Pakistan, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sabah, Liberia, people spoke candidly with her. She was treated royally by the top in society and the lowest. Everyone shared their homes and lives with her. The old saying "It's not what you know, but who you know" tells a good part of her story. All along the way people helped her meet power brokers as well as the 'man' on the street and get their stories.