093013 yangtze pr
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jennifer Richards
In theVALLEY
of theYANGTZE
Stories from an American Childhood in China
by Helen Roberts ThomasPart history, part journey of discovery, IN THE VALLEY OF THE YANGTZE: Stories from an
American Childhood in China(Commonwealth Book Publishers of Virginia Trade Paperback Original,$17.95, March 18, 2014) is a beautifully written coming-of-age tale set in a world that would changeirrevocably when the Communist Party of China established power of mainland China in 1949.
Helen Roberts Thomas was born in Shanghai in 1921 while her parents were serving as AmericanEpiscopalian missionaries. She spent her childhood in a vibrant international community in the YangtzeValley, barely escaping after the Japanese invaded Shanghai in 1937. Her parents friends wereeducators, missionaries, and doctors as well as technical and military advisors to the Chinesegovernment.
Thomas memoir tells a story little-known to either Chinese or Americans today, but it is freshly topical
in view of Americas reviving interest in China. Thomas mingles history, culture, and politics with asurprising cast of famous people whose paths she crossed, including Charles and Anne Lindbergh, PearlBuck, Chiang Kai-shek & Mme. Chiang, and Henry Duke of Gloucester.
Full of evocative and insightful memories of the pre-Communist China of the 1920s and 30s. IN THEVALLEY OF THE YANGTZEis an unforgettable memoir of the unusual experiences Helen RobertsThomas experienced as a missionarys daughter, growing up in a foreign land. Wo ai Zhongguo! theauthor proclaims: I love China!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The daughter of Episcopal missionaries, Helen Roberts Thomas was born in 1921 in Shanghai andresided in China until the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1937. She then moved to the United Statesand attended Wheelock College. After teaching for two years, she returned to China with the wartimeRed Cross. When she returned to the U.S., she taught in Newton, MA and worked for theBoston Herald-Travelerbefore marrying John Cunningham Thomas. In 1951, they moved to Wilmington, DE and raisedthree children.
Over the past six decades, Helen has served as a Professor of Humanities at Delaware Technical andCommunity College, the founder of the Delaware chapter of the National Organization for Women(NOW), the Delaware Governors Council for Women, andthe Delaware chapter of the Older WomensLeague (OWL). She is an ACLU honoree and a member of the Delaware Womens Hall of Fame, and herpapers are in the collection of the Delaware Historical Society. After retiring in 1980, she commenced anew career as tai chi instructor at the Sun Taijiquan School in Wilmington, DE, retiring just before her90th birthday.
She has returned to China many times since relations were normalized in the 1970s. During her tripthere in 2005, she received a silver medal in the International Martial Arts Competition in Beijing.
ABOUT COMMONWEALTH BOOK PUBLISHERS OF VIRGINIA
Commonwealth Book Publishers of Virginia was founded in (?) by philosopher James Thompson. Apublisher where history, philosophy and art meet, they publish books about bright ideas: who createdthem; how they became influential; who they influenced; and what these individuals accomplishedthrough their ideas. Commonwealth Books publish approximately (##?) illustrated books per year, andSmall Press United is their distributor.
For further information, please contact Jennifer Richards at Over the River Public Relations: 201-242-9637,[email protected].
IN THE VALLEY OF THE YANGTZE
Stories from an American Childhood in China
By Helen Roberts Thomas(Memoir/Chinese history / ISBN#: 978-0-9854863-2-7 / 161 pp. / $17.95)Commonwealth Book Publishers of Virginia Trade Paperback Original; March 18, 2014www.commonwealthbooks.org
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.commonwealthbooks.org/http://www.commonwealthbooks.org/http://www.commonwealthbooks.org/mailto:[email protected]