Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | J 921 ADDAMS | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Most people know Jane Addams (1860-1935) as the force behind Hull House, one of the first settlement houses in the United States. She was also an ardent suffragist and civil rights activist, co-founding the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union. But it was her work as a pacifist that put her in the international spotlight. Although many people labeled her "unpatriotic" for her pacifist activities, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 and, at the time of her death, Jane Addams was one of the most respected and admired women in the world. In this well-researched and inspiring account, acclaimed husband-and-wife team, Dennis Brindell Fradin and Judith Bloom Fradin, draw upon hundreds of historical documents and archival photographs to create a revealing portrait of the woman whose very way of life made her an American icon.
Author Notes
Dennis Brindell Fradin was the author of many books for young readers, including the well-received Samuel Adams: The Father of American Independence , and, with coauthor and wife Judith Bloom Fradin, Ida B. Wells: Mother of the Civil Rights Movement. Judith Bloom Fradin collaborated with her husband, Dennis Brindell Fradin, on several award-winning books for young readers, including Ida B. Wells: Mother of the Civil Rights Movement and Fight On!: Mary Church Terrell's Battle for Integration . She lives in Evanston, Illinois.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This remarkable team (Ida B. Wells: Mother of the Civil Rights Movement) aptly captures the shaping of Jane Addams's (1860-1935) character. The authors focus on her inspiration for and her own contribution to the settlement house movement with Hull House ("an institution that provides educational and social services for the needy"), as well as her unpopular yet stalwart commitment to peace during WWI. The authors immediately grab readers' attention with a chapter on Jane's comical role as Garbage Inspector of Chicago's Nineteenth Ward (where Hull House was situated). Only 5'3", Jane commanded "the brawny garbage collectors," and the cleanup contributed to lowering the ward's death rate. Jane extended her hospitality to even the "stone throwers" surrounding Hull House, and made a smooth transition to pacifist. The press sanctified and berated Jane in equal measure, calling her "Saint Jane" and eventually even "the most dangerous woman in America." The book explores some of her complexities, including her habit of collecting interesting people and also speculation about whether she and her close friend Mary Rozet Smith might also have been lovers. Jane may have lived a century ago, but her universal childhood anxieties (a sense of herself as an "ugly duckling" and her very modern complex family tree) as well as her struggle with depression make her a very human and inspiring role model for today's readers. Ages 10-14. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate, Middle School) Seventy years after her death, Jane Addams is honored as a humanitarian and winner of a Nobel Peace Prize, but the Fradins remind us that she was bitterly despised as well as internationally admired during her long lifetime. While their carefully documented and developed account doesn't actually explore the theme of ""champion of democracy"" promised by the subtitle, it does draw, from Addams's own writings, very clear statements of her philosophy about the value of human life. An introduction summarizing the multiple facets of her legendary contributions leads to a brief story of her battle with a corrupt Chicago City Hall over garbage in the streets during the early Hull House years. Three chronological segments are then recounted at length: childhood and an uninspiring early adulthood marked by depression and lack of direction; the founding of the famous settlement house; and the long period as leader of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, which made her so unpopular during the World War I years. Addams's family responsibilities, her lifelong friendships, her writing and speaking, her many bouts of ill health, and examples of her lasting influence are all included. The Fradins present a complex woman whose ideas are enduring and particularly timely in our day. Illustrated with many photographs, the book contains source notes, a bibliography, and an index. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
A fascinating and rich life is related in strong, unfussy prose by the Fradins. Known as Jennie as a child, the peace activist, founder of Hull House, and Nobel Prize winner felt like an ugly duckling. But college, Europe, and the discovery of good work that she could do in the city of Chicago transformed her. The settlement house she founded in 1889 provided a place for the poor to learn, to socialize, to share. She mobilized both workers and volunteers, wrote, spoke, studied, and raised funds. Most of the photographs are portraits; the text is enlivened when the images are those taken at Hull House or at marches. The narrative is smoothly written, and the opening anecdote, which describes how she became a garbage inspector of the Nineteenth Ward of Chicago in order to get the garbage picked up, is telling and draws readers into the story. Addams' bouts of depression and her deeply unpopular opposition to World War I are noted but do not unbalance the narrative. What shines is her everyday heroism, which changed lives. Excellent. --GraceAnne DeCandido Copyright 2006 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6 Up-The introduction asserts, "Today most people either don't know who Jane Addams was, or they have only a vague idea," but the number of books published about her, especially juvenile titles, suggests that she is not such an obscure figure. What distinguishes this one is the broader context that the Fradins establish, placing Hull House and the activism of Addams and her friends within the sphere of the history they so clearly influenced. The past is consistently linked to the present by quantifying prices in today's values, explaining what life was like for the poor before government programs were available to help them, and detailing the specifics of life and politics in Chicago and the world in Addams's time. The scene is carefully set for her amazing role as a social reformer and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Opening with her garbage crusade against unsanitary conditions and entrenched politicians in Chicago, then jumping back to her life as a child in Cedarville, IL, and continuing in a linear format, anecdotal information carries the story. Thoughtful placement of quotes from her own testimony and descriptions of her personal quirks humanize her. Primary documents, mainly in the form of archival photos and direct quotes from letters, break up the text. Notes reveal that the authors conducted interviews and did extensive research to authenticate the stories-the detail of these notes will assist researchers seeking to pursue their sources.-Janet S. Thompson, Chicago Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In her day, Addams was one of the most famous women in America and was known around the world as a social activist, a pacifist, the author of 11 books and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. In a time before the federal government took little responsibility for the poor, Addams and Hull House in Chicago provided food, health care and educational programs. Like any good biography, this places its subject squarely in the context of her time, focusing on the major social movements of the early 20th century: the struggles for equal rights for African Americans, women's rights and world peace. The volume covers a lot of ground, includes excellent archival photographs and offers good source notes. Solid reporting, but curiously dispassionate, given its subject. Still, it's an important work that will introduce an important American to a new generation of readers. (afterword, bibliography, acknowledgments, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
