Jane Addams and the Dream of American Democracy

by Jean Bethke Elshtain

Book Overview

In this eagerly anticipated interpretation of the life and work of quintessential "public intellectual" Jane Addams (1860-1935), Jean Bethke Elshtain explores Addams's legacy thematically and chronologically, recounting her embrace of "social feminism," her challenge to the usual cleavage between "conservative" and "liberal," and the growth of Chicago's famed Hull House into a thriving cultural and intellectual center. Jane Addams and the Dream of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465019137
• ISBN13: 9780465019137
• Release Date: December 2002
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

a deep, analytical biography

This ia a rather deep, psycho-analytical and intellectual biography of Jane Addams, a great visionary, tireless ball of energy, and one of the most admirable humanitarians of our time. It probes into Jane's upbringing and how her early experiences contributed to her thoughts on society and her motives. The author interviewed people who knew Jane, went to places she lived, and studied the archives of Hull House. All statements are well documented with footnotes in the back. I would recommend this book for adults instead of teenage readers, because it is so intellectually deep. Teenagers should choose a simpler book.

good book about a good person

This book is a breath of truthful air in recent history writing. Gone are the speculations and unsupported theories. Gone also is the garbage of modern history departments. The author deals with the recent speculation about Jane Addams. She does not ignore it. It is nice to find a book that deals intelligently with the subject. It is also nice to see that the author has carefully researched her subject. Historians of today are doing the world a great disservice. But the cultural wars will continue. Facts, provable facts, do matter in the end. The author talked to people who knew Jane Addams. In the First World War, Jane Addams was closely watched by various intelligence agencies of the federal government and of local government. If there was dirt to be picked up, these vacuum cleaners of that subject would have found it and published it. The reports of these agencies are available on microfilm in the Jane Addams Papers published by University Microfilms.This book is 329 pages long. It has 63 pages of notes, 9 pages of index, and 10 pages of well selected photos. It is a good book, about a good person. Jane will be long remembered for the "quality of her thinking, for her rightness as an interpreter of individuals to themselves and of social groups one to another." So wrote her first biographer, James Linn. I think this book continues that image of Jane Addams.