Helen Foster Snow: An American Woman in Revolutionary China Book

Helen Foster Snow tells the story of a remarkable woman, born in Utah in 1907, who lived in China during the 1930s and became an author, humanitarian, and bridge-builder between the United States and China. As Kelly Ann Long recounts in this engaging biography, Helen Foster Snow immersed herself in the social and political currents of a nation in turmoil. Marrying renowned journalist Edgar Snow, she developed her own writing talents and offered an important perspective as China was wracked by Japanese invasion, the outbreak of World War II, and continuing civil war. She supported the December Ninth Movement of 1935, broke boundaries to enter Communist Yenan, and helped initiate the “gung ho” Chinese Industrial Cooperative movement. She wrote about the people and events in the remote communist territories during an important era, relaying detailed portraits of female communist leaders and famous figures such as Mao Zedong, as well as common people struggling to survive in a period of increasing turmoil. Her informed, compassionate depictions attracted American interest to the welfare of the Chinese. Long’s readable biography recovers the story of a controversial and important commentator on a critical period in U.S.–China relations and in Chinese history.