Simone de Beauvoir: Creating a Feminist Existence in the World

Simone de Beauvoir: Creating a Feminist Existence in the World situates Beauvoir's life and works in historical context, charting how she was enmeshed in most twentieth-century events and developments ranging from World War Two, to Decolonization, and to the Cold War. Her work considered numerous topics of contemporary relevance, like socialist politics, feminism, war crimes, human rights, and the possibilities and limits of political activism in support of social justice. Building on recent scholarship, this biography focuses especially on the colonial, transnational, and postcolonial influences that shaped Beauvoir and emphasizes her paradoxical and complicated relationship to politics. Written in accessible and lively prose, the book is divided into seven chapters and includes lesser-known photos of Beauvoir alongside primary sources of both historical and contemporary interest.

We live in a global age where big concepts like "globalization" often tempt us to forget the personal side of the past. The titles in The World in a Life series aim to revive these meaningful lives. Each one shows us what it was like to live on a world historical stage. Brief, inexpensive, and thematic, each book can be read in a week, fit within a wide range of curricula, and shed insight into a particular place or time. Four to six short primary sources at the end of each volume sharpen the reader's view of an individual's impact on world history.