Jane Addams was arguably the most influential woman in American history. She founded Hull-House, a “settlement house” intended to serve the poor of Chicago, in 1897, and lived there the rest of her life.

As time passed, she became a spokesperson for the poor, for women, for children, for families, for sanitation, for public health, for social and political reform, first in Chicago, then nationally, and finally throughout the world. In her time, she was as famous as a president, and her books were read everywhere.

Concern for the poor and minorities led her gradually into active politics. This included, in addition to municipal reform, winning voting rights for women and also a pacifist approach to world affairs. In 1931, she became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Addams’s mission as one of the first American public intellectuals, and a hugely successful activist and reformer as well, shines forth brightly in her inspiring and easy to read autobiography.

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