These experiences, Knight makes clear, transformed Addams. 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. 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. Knight recounts how Addams, a child of a wealthy family in rural northern Illinois, longed for a life of larger purpose. In this book we observe a powerful mind grappling with the radical ideas of her age, most notably the ever-changing meanings of democracy.Ĭitizen covers the first half of Addams's life, from 1860 to 1899. Knight's masterful biography, reveals Addams's early development as a political activist and social philosopher. Jane Addams was the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Now Citizen, Louise W.
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