The Library of Congress > Linked Data Service > BIBFRAME Works

Bibframe Work

Title
The only woman in the room
Type
Text
Monograph
Contribution
Gordon, Beate (Author)
Language
English
Illustrative Content
Illustrations
Geographic Coverage
Japan
Asia
United States
Classification
LCC: ML429.G668 A3 2014
DDC: 909.82092B full
Could not render: bf:status
Content
text
Summary
A vivid and very personal account of one woman's life in Europe, prewar Japan, and the United States. As the daughter of renowned Russian pianist Leo Sirota, Beate Gordon grew up in the cosmopolitan world of the concert tour, then settled in Japan in the 1930s. During World War II, while her parents remained in Japan under secret service surveillance, Gordon lived alone in the United States, monitoring Tokyo Radio in five languages for the government and later writing radio propaganda. She recounts her dramatic reunion with her parents in Tokyo, where she worked in General MacArthur's headquarters, and evokes the postwar suffering in defeated Japan. Her intimate description of helping draft the women's rights section of Japan's new constitution is an astonishing record of history in the making. On returning to the States in 1947, Mrs. Gordon became a cultural impresario, bringing artists, dancers, writers, and musicians from all over to the United States. Her adventures in search of performing artists in such remote and exotic places as Mongolia, Tibet, India, and Indonesia make for hilarious and sometimes hair-raising anecdotes.
Authorized Access Point
Gordon, Beate The only woman in the room