Daughter of Earth

by Agnes Smedley

Book Overview

This gritty, sweeping novel follows a burgeoning political activist in the early twentieth century: a "precious, priceless book" (Alice Walker). "We owe our world to women like Agnes Smedley, who... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0935312684
• ISBN13: 9780935312683
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Feminist Press
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.0" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

One of the best books ever written by anyone from the usa

A fantastic book. Thought provoking. Inspiring. Radical. Doubly inspiring. You can learn more about US history from this book than from any textbook I've seen. A real people's perspective which resulted from living a hard life. Even someone under the age of 13 could read it. I truly amazing person. Agnes Smedley had a basic and deep understanding of society - truly the daughter of earth.............. read it!

Excellent Book---Highly Recommended

Though I have since made a career change, I realized, as I read this book for the umpteenth time a few weeks ago, it was one of the driving forces in my decision to become a counselor. Many times I have seen in families, the battered women and children I've worked with and counseled, the need to love and be loved, to not be lonely. We are told that we will become more lovable as we choose the right clothes, perfume, shampoo, even toothpaste! The list of products, guaranteeing that we will have would-be lovers banging at our door, that we will never be lonely as long as we buy these products is endless. Our media-oriented society measures lovability by: popularity, sex-appeal, the right clothes and products. Living by these standards alone makes us lonely, especially if we can't live up to them. These standards are only masks, hiding us from not only our inner selves, but those of others as well. Marie, the main character in the book "Daughter of Earth" struggles with her loneliness. She wants what we all want - to be loved and not have to prove that we are adequate enough to be loved. "Marie lives out her whole life struggling to act as a whole person - to give and receive love in a relationship of equality - and to work against oppression - despite the image that inhabits her imagination." From a very young age, Marie learned of the world's contradictions. She learned how devalued women were, "that even male animals cost more than female animals and seemed more valuable; that male fowls cost more than females and were chosen with more care." With the birth of her little brother, Marie realized how important a son was for there was much celebration as cigars and whiskey were passed around. She also saw how the lives of those in poverty were worthless and that "the companies" these people worked for only cared about the profit they were making rather than the lives and safety of their employees. "Coal was dear...life was cheap." As Marie watched married women around her, she realized that the "love expressed in sex enslaves and humiliates" them. "It is the toll men exact for giving economic protection to their wives. The weeping of wives - what is more bitter?" She sees women become powerless as wives and mothers and she in turn seeks a relationship that is equal in giving and receiving love. She does not want to be like the women in her childhood that have lost the power to make their own choices. In two relationships, Marie thinks she has found the equality she's been looking for. However, in the end it is not even so: "To her comes the memory of many women who have loved, suffered and remained true to the one man who did not love or remain true to them; to her comes the memory of a man who betrayed many good women for the sake of the one woman who detested and was cruel to him. She thinks of the great loves that seem to have been great because they were hopeless; of the night that follows the day; of love and hate that are se

Humanity shared

This is an interesting book because it is about a subject and time not otherwise written about (or at least known to me) much in American literature, from a woman's point of view. Lovers of Steinbeck would find much to admire and enjoy here. It is a very ideological work. Smedley, after all, was a champion of the Chinese revolution and friend of Mao Tse-tung. It is beautifully and evocatively written, so it does not read like a treatise, but it is a fundamentally political work - feminist and socialist. It is about STRENGTH and politics.If you are interested in rural poverty, and fighting against the odds and limitations in early 20th century America, you will find much in this book. Fans of Maya Angelou may like this too.

a feminist revolutionary in early america

I read this book 30 years ago and have picked it up again. Ms. Smedley gives a first person account of her life as a revolutionary union organizer and feminist during a time when few women were allowed out alone! This book had a profound impact on how i understand feminism, economic tyranny, the right to organize, and solidarity among women!

A Peck of Salt Is Passed

Agnes Smedley's working classic, DAUGHTER OF EARTH, is as alive today as it was in the 1930's. Thanks to Feminist Press, which keeps many classics alive for us, this book is a vivid and vital tale of Marie's struggle to survive neglect, abuse, and a tragic loss of self-esteem. Based closely on Smedley's own impoverished youth moving around the South and West of the country, it reveals the chief abuse as the character's own oppression of herself. Smedley is a poet in her prose, touching us with quick and hard earned lines. She has moved from the plodding naturalism of a Dreiser to a lyric and challenging portrait of a life. It's real tragedy lies in its revealing a pattern of abuse that continues today. Read it for its insight and humanity. -Larry Smit