Citizen; Jane Addams and the Struggle for Democracy

Chicago: The University Of Chicago Press, 2005. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Good. Joseph Barabe (Author photograph). xvi, 582, [2] pages. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. DJ has some wear, small edge tear, and soiling. Louise (Lucy) W. Knight is an author, lecturer, and historian. She has written two biographies of Jane Addams. In 2005 she published CITIZEN: JANE ADDAMS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY, about Addams's formative years. The second book, the first full life biography of Addams in 37 years is JANE ADDAMS: SPIRIT IN ACTION. Shifting her focus to the antebellum period, she is currently working on a book about the radical abolitionist-feminists, Sarah and Angelina Grimké, titled American Sisters: Sarah and Angelina Grimké and the Fight for Human Rights. Knight's writing have been published in the New York Times Book Review, the Wall Street Journal, the Nation website, CNN, and the Chicago Tribune. She lectures often at universities, historical societies. and academic conferences. She has appeared on public television, C-Span Book TV, and various radio stations. In her lectures, booktalks, and other writings, she explores the connections between early and current progressive civic action. She is a long-time Visiting Scholar in the Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at Northwestern University, currently serves in the board of Biographers International Organization (BIO) and is a former president of the Frances Willard Historical Association, which manages the historical site, Frances Willard's home, in Evanston, Illinois. Jane Addams was the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Citizen, Louise W. Knight's masterful biography, reveals Addams's early development as a political activist and social philosopher. In this book we observe a powerful mind grappling with the radical ideas of her age, most notably the ever-changing meanings of democracy. Citizen covers the first half of Addams's life, from 1860 to 1899. Knight recounts how Addams, a child of a wealthy family in rural northern Illinois, longed for a life of larger purpose. She broadened her horizons through education, reading, and travel, and, after receiving an inheritance upon her father's death, moved to Chicago in 1889 to co-found Hull House, the city's first settlement house. Citizen shows vividly what the settlement house actually was, a neighborhood center for education and social gatherings, and describes how Addams learned of the abject working conditions in American factories, the unchecked power wielded by employers, the impact of corrupt local politics on city services, and the intolerable limits placed on women by their lack of voting rights. These experiences, Knight makes clear, transformed Addams. Always a believer in democracy as an abstraction, Addams came to understand that this national ideal was also a life philosophy and a mandate for civic activism by all. As her story unfolds, Knight astutely captures the enigmatic Addams's compassionate personality as well as her flawed human side. Written in a strong narrative voice, Citizen is an insightful portrait of the formative years of a great American leader. Knight's decision to focus on Addams's early years is a stroke of genius. We know a great deal about Jane Addams the public figure. We know relatively little about how she made the transition from the 19th century to the 20th. In Knight's book, Jane Addams comes to life. . . . Citizen is written neither to make money nor to gain academic tenure; it is a gift, meant to enlighten and improve. Jane Addams would have understood.-- Alan Wolfe, New York Times Book Review. Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 - May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage in the United States. Addams co-founded Chicago's Hull House, one of America's most famous settlement houses, providing extensive social services to poor, largely immigrant families. In 1910, Addams was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree from Yale University, becoming the first woman to receive an honorary degree from the school. In 1920, she was a co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). An advocate for world peace, and recognized as the founder of the social work profession in the United States, in 1931 Addams became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Addams was one of the most prominent reformers. She helped America address and focus on issues that were of concern to mothers, such as the needs of children, local public health, and world peace. When Addams died in 1935, she was the best-known female public figure in the United States.