'Search yesterday to understand today'

 

“If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.” – Pearl Buck

 

Buck, born on this date in 1892, saw the world unfolding around her and chronicled it in a writing style that melded the past and present with clarity and intensity.  Over her lifetime she penned nearly 40 novels and numerous short stories and non-fiction works. 

 

 

Born in the backwoods of West Virginia, she spent much of her growing up years in rural areas of China where her parents were missionaries.  Throughout her adult life, she was a staunch supporter of multiple humanitarian causes, particularly in support of overcoming poverty faced by children. 

 

 

After winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938 (the first American woman to win the award), she utilized her prize money to establish the East and West Association, and the Pearl S. Buck Foundation to address humanitarian issues around the globe.  For more than 50 years she spoke out and wrote against injustice whenever and wherever she saw it.

 

  “The truth is always important and exciting,” she said. “Speak it, then. Life is dull without it.”