Smithsonian Journeys Experts

Jim Laurie is an award winning writer, journalist and broadcaster, who has travelled the world for more than 50 years.  He is the author of the book: The Last Helicopter: Two Lives in Indochina - a story of love, war and survival in the 1970's.  Jim covered Vietnam, Cambodia, India, and Japan for NBC News before joining ABC News to cover China, the Philippines, Afghanistan, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, the Baltic States, war in the Balkans, and beginning of a united Germany.  He has interviewed such global leaders as the Dalai Lama, China's Deng Xiaoping, and Russia's Vladimir Putin.  He is the recipient of multiple Emmy and Overseas Press Club Awards.  He has written and produced numerous documentaries including those on China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, and Global environmental activism. His talks focus on the modern history of more than a dozen countries.  They are enhanced by his personal history in those countries and his rich archive of audio-video resources.