Iris Chang, best-selling author of The Rape of Nanking and tireless human-rights activist, symbolized strength to many in the literary and social justice worlds. Her fearlessness made it all the more shocking when she committed suicide in 2004 at age 36.

Long-time friend and confidante Paula Kamen, author of the critically acclaimed All in My Head, reveals for the first time the private Iris behind the bold international celebrity. She offers a tribute to the lost heroine while attempting to explain Iris's tragic psychological decline. Through letters, diaries, and her own memories and investigative journalism, Kamen fills in the surprising gaps in Chang's personal transformation, from awkward teen to world-class writer and lecturer, and finally into mental illness and paranoia. Finding Iris Chang is a portrait of a real, vulnerable woman who changed the world.

Paula Kamen is a Chicago journalist, author, and visiting research scholar with Northwestern University. Her commentaries and book reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Salon, Ms, Chicago Tribune, In These Times, and numerous anthologies.