Katô Shidzue, one of the first Japanese women activists, represents the successes and failures of Japan's activist women in the postwar period and the relationship of these women to the United States, Europe, and to international engagement.

The titles in the new Library of World Biography series make ideal supplements for World History survey courses or other courses in the history curriculum where figures in history are explored. Paperback, brief and inexpensive, each interpretative biography in this series focuses on a figure whose actions and ideas significantly influenced the course of World history, and relates the life of its subject to the broader themes and developments of the times.