The Ultimate Protest: Malcolm W. Browne, Thich Quang Duc, and the News Photograph That Stunned the World

by Ray E. Boomhower

The Ultimate Malcolm W. Browne, Thich Quang Duc, and the News Photograph That Stunned the World examines how the most unlikely of war correspondents, Malcolm W. Browne, became the only Western reporter to capture Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc's horrific self-immolation on June 11, 1963. Quang Duc made his ultimate sacrifice to protest the perceived anti-Buddhist policies of the Catholic-dominated administration of South Vietnam's president Ngo Dinh Diem.Biographer Ray E. Boomhower's The Ultimate Protest explores the background of the Buddhist crisis in South Vietnam in the spring of 1963 that led to Quang Duc's self-sacrifice as well as the worldwide reaction to Browne's photograph, how it affected American policy toward Diem's government, and the role the image played in the violent coup on November 1, 1963, that deposed Diem and led to his assassination. The book also delves into the dynamics involved in covering the Vietnam War in the early days of the American presence and the pressures placed on the journalists to stop raising doubts about how the war was going. Browne and his colleague David Halberstam shared the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for their work in Vietnam.ACCLAIM"Malcolm Browne, the first and longest-serving American correspondent in Vietnam, was long overshadowed by the better-known David Halberstam and Neil Sheehan. But Ray Boomhower's new book finally helps redress the balance. The Ultimate Protest is an engrossing read for anyone interested in how the United States got itself involved in Indochina despite clear warnings by its best journalists who found themselves labeled as 'enemy agents' for reporting the truth."--Fox Butterfield, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Alive in the Bitter Sea"Malcolm Browne was everything a great reporter should be--intrepid, independent, insightful, and ultimately a bit wistful about the human condition. Ray Boomhower has given Malcolm the fine biography he deserved."--Peter L. W. Osnos, author of An Especially Good Watching History Happen

"Elegantly written, deeply researched, and fast paced, The Ultimate Protest shines an overdue light on the life and times of one of the first journalists to report critically on America's misadventure in Vietnam and the challenge of gathering news in the face of government evasions and lies--a challenge to reporters as relevant today as it was then. For anyone seeking a better understanding of how great journalism is practiced, this book is must-read."--Thomas D. Herman, director and producer of Dateline-SaigonABOUT THE AUTHORRay E. Boomhower is a senior editor at the Indiana Historical Society Press. His books include The Soldier's A Life of Ernie Pyle,Dispatches from the The World War II Reporting of Robert L. Sherrod, and Richard Reporting Under Fire from Guadalcanal to Vietnam (UNM Press).

344 pages, Hardcover

Published March 15, 2024

About the author

From famed World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle to unlucky astronaut Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, author and historian Ray E. Boomhower has produced books on a variety of notable figures in Indiana and American history.

Currently senior editor at the Indiana Historical Society Press, where he edits the quarterly popular history magazine Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, Boomhower has also published books on the life of Civil War general and author Lew Wallace, reformer and peace activist May Wright Sewall, U.S. Navy ace Alex Vraciu, and journalist and diplomat John Bartlow Martin.

In 1998 he received the Hoosier Historian award from the Indiana Historical Society and in 2010 he was named winner of the Regional Author Award in the annual Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Awards. In 2009 his book Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary was selected as the winner in the historical nonfiction category of the annual Best Books of Indiana contest sponsored by the Indiana Center for the Book. His books have also been finalists in the annual Benjamin Franklin Awards from the Independent Book Publishers Association.