This dirt-hard, feminist novel (1929) recreates the amazing life story of an American working-class woman. Always poor, Agnes Smedley worked to advance the cause of human justice on three continents as a writer and political activist. Here, she relives her first 33 years � growing up on the wrong side of the tracks in small southwestern towns; discovering double standards of class, race, and sex among East Coast intellectuals; facing false espionage charges; and maintaining her independence through two tormented marriages.