"Born on the Idaho frontier, Florence James was a New York City suffragette. The first to put Jimmy Cagney on stage, she founded both the Negro Repertory Theatre and the Seattle Repertory Playhouse. She worked with Francis Farmer, Paul Robson, and Helen Hayes, but her views on art and politics and her choice of plays led to a clash with the Un-American Activities Committee. In the wake of two Kafkaesque trials, where she condemned her persecutors as liars, she fled to Canada and kick-started professional theatre in Saskatchewan, the home to North America's first socialist government. This new edition of Fists Upon a Star (called ٢sensational٣ by Jimmy Cagney) tells an inspiring story of one woman speaking truth to power. Praise for earlier edition: ٢An amazing story of achievement, heartbreak, and endurance...But above all, it is a moving and powerful cautionary tale of what can happen, at any time of any age, when, in [Arthur] Miller's words, a whole world begins to cry 'spirits.'٣-Moira Day, Department Head of Drama, University of Saskatchewan Jean Freeman is a celebrated performer and author and the recipient of ACTRA's Woman of the Year award and an honorary doctorate from University of Regina. She lives in Regina."-- Provided by publisher.