Helen Foster Snow; Author of Books on Asian, U.S. History

Helen Foster Snow, 89, author who wrote learnedly about Asian and early American history. The widow of author Edgar Snow, she wrote such books as “Inside Red China,” “The Chinese Labor Movement, “Red Dust,” “The Chinese Communists: Sketches and Autobiographies of the Old Guard” and “My Yenan Notebooks.” She often used the pen name “Nym Wales” to gain independent recognition but never escaped the shadow of her better-known husband. An American who settled in Connecticut after many years in China, Helen Snow identified closely with her own ancestors and chronicled their migration from England to New England. An activist, she was a co-founder of the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives. On Jan. 11 in North Madison, Conn.