The Only Woman in the Room: A Memoir of Japan, Human Rights, and the Arts - Couverture souple

Gordon, Beate Sirota; Dower, John W.; Gordon, Nicole A.

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 022613251X ISBN 13 : 9780226132518

Editeur : University of Chicago Press, 2014

Synopsis

In 1946, at age twenty-two, Beate Sirota Gordon helped to draft the new postwar Japanese constitution. This memoir chronicles the unlikely string of events that led her to that role: how a daughter of Austrian Jews became the youngest woman to aid in the rushed, secret drafting of the constitution; how she almost single-handedly ensured that the rights of Japanese women would be enshrined therein; and how, as the most fluent speaker of Japanese and the only woman in the room, she helped persuade the Japanese to accept the new charter. Gordon was born in Vienna, but in 1929 her family moved to Japan so that her father, a noted pianist, could teach, and she grew up speaking German, English, and Japanese. The formal declaration of World War II cut Gordon off from her family, and she supported herself by working for a CBS listening post in San Francisco that would eventually become part of the FCC. When the war ended, she became the only woman in the team of experts sent to Japan to help the army with the American occupation. General MacArthur gave the team four days to draft the constitution. When Colonel Roest casually said to Gordon, "You're a woman, why don't you write the women's rights section?," she seized the opportunity to write into law guarantees of sexual equality unparalleled in the US Constitution to this day. Illustrated throughout with stunning photographs, The Only Woman in the Room captures two cultures at a critical moment in history when global politics and sexual mores were in flux, all contained in the story of a single life lived with purpose and courage.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

In 1946, at age twenty-two, Beate Sirota Gordon helped to draft the new postwar Japanese Constitution. The Only Woman in the Room chronicles how a daughter of Russian Jews became the youngest woman to aid in the rushed, secret drafting of a constitution; how she almost single-handedly ensured that it would establish the rights of Japanese women; and how, as a fluent speaker of Japanese and the only woman in the room, she assisted the American negotiators as they worked to persuade the Japanese to accept the new charter.

Sirota was born in Vienna, but in 1929 her family moved to Japan so that her father, a noted pianist, could teach, and she grew up speaking German, English, and Japanese. Russian, French, Italian, Latin, and Hebrew followed, and at fifteen Sirota was sent to complete her education at Mills College in California. The formal declaration of World War II cut Gordon off from her parents, and she supported herself by working for a CBS listening post in San Francisco that would eventually become part of the FCC. Translating was one of Sirota’s many talents, and when the war ended, she was sent to Japan as a language expert to help the American occupation forces. When General MacArthur suddenly created a team that included Sirota to draft the new Japanese Constitution, he gave them just eight days to accomplish the task. Colonel Roest said to Beate Sirota, “You’re a woman, why don’t you write the women’s rights section?”; and she seized the opportunity to write into law guarantees of equality unparalleled in the US Constitution to this day.

But this was only one episode in an extraordinary life, and when Gordon died in December 2012, words of grief and praise poured from artists, humanitarians, and thinkers the world over. Illustrated with forty-seven photographs, The Only Woman in the Room captures two cultures at a critical moment in history and recounts, after a fifty-year silence, a life lived with purpose and courage. This edition contains a new afterword by Nicole A. Gordon and an elegy by Geoffrey Paul Gordon.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: University of Chicago Press
• Date d'édition: 2014
• ISBN 10: 022613251X
• ISBN 13: 9780226132518
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 180