The Only Woman in the Room: A Memoir

The Only Woman in the Room: A Memoir by Gordon, Beate Sirota. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9784770021458.

The Only Woman in the Room is a vivid and very personal account of one womans 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 ll, while her parents remained in Japan under secret service surveillance, Gordon lived alone in America, 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 MacArthurs headquarters, and evokes the postwar suffering in defeated Japan. Her intimate description of helping draft the womens rights section of Japans new constitution in less than a week is an astonishing record of history in the making. On returning to the States in 1947, Mrs. Gordon became a cultural impressario, bringing artists, dancers and musicians from all over Asia to the United States. Her adventures in search of traditional arts in Burma, Tibet, Bengal, and Indonesia make for gripping and sometimes hilarious anecdotes. The Only Woman in the Room can be appreciated on many levels. Armchair travelers, feminists, history buffs and, above all, people who enjoy well-written memoirs will all find Beate Gordons extraordinary life a riveting read.