This is a biography of one of the most famous child stars of all time. The book portrays her childhood and brings into focus the woman that child became, a woman who was forced to live her life in the shadow of her own past glory. The author follows the tumultous events and the disappointments that marked Shirley's meteoric rise to fame as a child star, her fall as an adolescent who had outgrown her appeal and her surprising ascent into a world figure as Ambassador to the United Nations, Chief of Protocol for the United States and Ambassador to Ghana.