Margaret Bourke-White grew up in northern New Jersey and graduated from Cornell University. She became interested in photography during her first year in college. She made and sold photographs and picture postcards to pay her way through her remaining years of college.

After she graduated from college, she set up an advertising agency in Cleveland, Ohio, which she called the Bourke-White Studio. While there she attracted wide attention for taking photographs of steel mills. In 1929, she was invited to become industrial photographer for a new magazine, Fortune, which soon was to start. At this same time she moved her studio to New York to continue her advertising photography.

Gradually as she continued her work she discovered that she would far rather photograph people than factories and machines. About this time she was offered an opportunity to become news photographer for another new magazine which soon was to be started. She welcomed this new offer because now she could concentrate mostly on photographing people. Her assignments took her on trips to all parts of the world. On some of these trips she gathered information for writing or for helping to write books.

When the United States entered World War II, Margaret became a war correspondent, the first women ever to hold such a position. On one of her first assignments she rode in a bomber on an actual air raid on German positions in North Africa. While on this raid, she took photographs of bombs exploding, anti-aircraft firing, and everything else that takes place during a bombing raid.

At the peak of her career, following World War II, she was one of the most widely-traveled and widely-known women in the world. On one occasion she made a special study of India, to determine the possibility of its becoming a dominant nation in the world after it achieved independence. During the Korean War she visited South Korea to find out how the people felt about fighting for a free, independent country.

This book has been written by Montrew Dunham, who has written seven other popular books in the Childhood of Famous Americans Series. In preparing this book she has conducted extensive research in order to provide an authentic story of the life of a truly great American.

From the dust jacket