"‘The authors skillfully blend a thorough grasp of the first half of the century with a sensitive use of psycho-biographical technique.’ —GADDIS SMITH (YALE), Foreign Affairs Agnes Smedley’s (1894–1950) career as an activist journalist began in the 1910s and 1920s, with a commitment to the Indian Independence movement. Her anti-imperialism was based on the Jeffersonian tradition of the American Revolution. In New York, she was close to the Lion of the Punjab, Lala Lajpat Rai, writing for his publications until his death. In California, she was involved with the Sikh-led Ghadar party of insurrectionists. Her complicated relationship with the European movement leader Virendranath Chattopadhyaya in Berlin in the 1920s is better known. Smedley left Europe for China in 1929 in an effort to reach India through the backdoor.