Journalist Susan Butler, whose recently published biography of Amelia Earhart was described by the Washington Post as "the single best book that we now have on Earhart's life," will read from her book at Radcliffe College's Schlesinger Library on Thursday, Feb. 19. The event, which celebrates the publication of East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart, will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Library, in Radcliffe Yard.

Butler is the daughter of Grace Liebman, who was a member of the Ninety Nines, Earhart's flying organization. When Butler decided to write a biography of an American woman who made a difference, Earhart was the natural choice.

In her book, Butler throws new light on many of the controversial elements of the aviator's life and death. She unearthed family diaries and letters, and interviewed women who had flown with Earhart as well as relatives who gave her their detailed reminiscences. In Newfoundland, she found more new material.

Much of the research was conducted at the Schlesinger Library, the repository for Earhart's papers. It was there that Butler discovered the unpublished biography of Earhart that Gore Vidal had always claimed existed. The biography was written by Earhart's friend Janet Mabie, who was also a journalist for the Christian Science Monitor in Boston.

In her book, Butler also cites the conclusions of Japanese reporter Akiko Aoki, who spent years researching the "captured by the Japanese" scenarios that various individuals have claimed as her likely end.

Los Angeles Times reviewer Carl Beauchamp wrote, "The reader closes East to the Dawn with the lingering realization of how truly contemporary Amelia Earhart remains and with a new understanding of the love and admiration she earned from colleagues and the public at large. Her insistence of being her own person, while fighting for causes larger than herself, continues to command our respect and fuel our dreams."

Butler's writings have appeared in The New York Times and other publications, but East to the Dawn is her first book. Copies will be available for sale and for signing at New Words bookstore in Cambridge.