"Excellent. . . . The Education of Jane Addams provides a detailed, wonderfully complex analysis of Addams's ideas, life, and work."--Journal of American History

Jane Addams is well known for her leadership in urban reform, social settlements, pacifism, social work, and women's suffrage.The men of the Chicago School are well known for their leadership in founding sociology and the study of urban life.What has remained hidden however, is that Jane Addams played a pivotal role in the development of sociology and worked closely with the male faculty at the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago. By using extensive archival material, Mary Jo Deegan is the first to document Addams's sociological significance and the existence of a sexual division of labor during the founding years of the discipline. As the leader of the women's network, Addams was able to bridge these two spheres of work and knowledge.Through an analysis of the changing relations between the male and female networks, Deegan shows that the Chicago men varied widely in their understanding and acceptance of her sociological though and action.Despite this variation, it was through her work with the men of the Chicago School that Addams left a legacy for sociology as a way of thinking, an area of study, and a methodological approach to data collecting. This previously unexamined heritage of American sociology will be of value to anyone interested in the history of the social sciences, especially sociology and social work, the development of American social thought, the role of professional women, the Progressive Era, and the intellectual contributions of Jane Addams.

Jane Addams was the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Now Citizen, Louise W. Knight's masterful biography, reveals Addams's early development as a political activist and social philosopher. In this book we observe a powerful mind grappling with the radical ideas of her age, most notably the ever-changing meanings of democracy. Citizen covers the first half of Addams's life, from 1860 to 1899. Knight recounts how Addams, a child of a wealthy family in rural northern Illinois, longed for a life of larger purpose. 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. 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. These experiences, Knight makes clear, transformed Addams. Always a believer in democracy as an abstraction, Addams came to understand that this national ideal was also a life philosophy and a mandate for civic activism by all. As her story unfolds, Knight astutely captures the enigmatic Addams's compassionate personality as well as her flawed human side. Written in a strong narrative voice, Citizen is an insightful portrait of the formative years of a great American leader. “Knight’s decision to focus on Addams’s early years is a stroke of genius. We know a great deal about Jane Addams the public figure. We know relatively little about how she made the transition from the 19th century to the 20th. In Knight’s book, Jane Addams comes to life. . . . Citizen is written neither to make money nor to gain academic tenure; it is a gift, meant to enlighten and improve. Jane Addams would have understood.”—Alan Wolfe, New York Times Book Review “My only complaint about the book is that there wasn’t more of it. . . . Knight honors Addams as an American original.”—Kathleen Dalton, Chicago Tribune

"Ever since she was a little girl, Jane Addams hoped to help people in need. She wanted to create a place where people could find food, work, and community. In 1889, she chose a house in a run-down Chicago neighborhood and turned it into Hull House--a settlement home--soon adding a playground, kindergarten, and a public bath, By 1907, Hull House included thirteen buildings. And by the early 1920s, more than nine thousand people visited Hull House each week. The dreams of a smart, caring girl had become a reality. And the lives of hundreds of thousands of people were transformed when they stepped into the house that Jane Addams built."--Provided by publisher.

Jane Addams (1860–1935) was an inspired activist who struck at the roots of social injustice through persistent and thoughtful action, advocating for reforms in sanitation, housing and work conditions, and child labor. In 1915 Addams founded the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), and in 1931 she became the first American female recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Eighteen years after Addams’s death, members of the WILPF created the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award. Presented annually, the award honors children’s books that invite readers to think deeply about peace, social justice, world community, and equality for all races and genders. The Jane Addams Children’s Book Award: Honoring Children’s Literature for Peace and Social Justice since 1953 is the first book to examine the award as well as its winners and honor books. In this volume, Susan C. Griffith reviews and synthesizes Addams’s ideas and legacy, so that her life and accomplishments can be used as a focal point for exploring issues of social justice through children’s literature. In addition to a history and overview of the award, this work contains annotated bibliographies with thematically arranged winners and honor books bestowed in Addams’s name. Supporting literature study in classrooms and integrating points of reflection drawn from the activist’s life, The Jane Addams Children’s Book Award is an invaluable resource for educators, students, and librarians.

A look at the life of the "pacifist" Jane Addams.

Once intent on being good to people, Jane Addams later dedicated herself to the idea of being good with people, establishing mutually-responsive and reciprocal relationships with those she served at Hull House. The essays in Jane Addams in the Classroom explore how Addams's life, work, and philosophy provide invaluable lessons for teachers seeking connection with their students. Balancing theoretical and practical considerations, the collection examines Addams's emphasis on listening to and learning from those around her and encourages contemporary educators to connect with students through innovative projects and teaching methods. In the first essays, Addams scholars lay out how her narratives drew on experience, history, and story to explicate theories she intended as guides to practice. Six teacher-scholars then establish Addams's ongoing relevance by connecting her principles to exciting events in their own classrooms. An examination of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award and a fictional essay on Addams's work and ideas round out the volume. Accessible and wide-ranging, Jane Addams in the Classroom offers inspiration for educators while adding to the ongoing reconsideration of Addams's contributions to American thought.

Jane Addams, the founder of Hull House in Chicago, may be best known as a social activist. She was also a brilliantly critical intellectual. Implicit in her many speeches, articles, and books is a view of education as a broad process of cultural transformation and renewal, a view that remains as compelling today as when it was first presented. Addams sees education as the foundation of democracy, the basis for the free expression of ideas.Addams's writings on education are interpreted in an enlightening bio-graphical introduction by Ellen Lagemann. After the initial publication of this work, Barbara L. Jacquette of the Delta Group, Inc., in Phoenix wrote, "Professor Lagemann has brought life and immediacy to Jane Addams's work. Better, she has given us a context that shows us that some of our most pressing issues today are simply old problems in new guises, problems for which some of the old solutions may still be of use." Gerald Lee Gutek of Loyola University of Chicago commented "Lagemann's insightful and sensitive biography reveals Addams's transformation from a reserved graduate of a small women's college into the Progressive reformer and pioneer of the settlement house movement."The essays collected here span a significant portion of Jane Addams's life, from the time she spent in college to her founding of Hull House and beyond. Addams's constant interest in education is reflected in her writings. This book also reveals the many influences on Addams's life, including the philosopher and educator John Dewey. On Education is an important work for educators, women's studies specialists, social workers, and historians.

This book examines the life and works of Jane Addams who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (1931). Addams led an international women's peace movement and is noted for spearheading a first-of-its-kind international conference of women at The Hague during World War I. She helped to found the Women's International League of Peace and Freedom. She was also a prophetic peace theorist whose ideas were dismissed by her contemporaries. Her critics conflated her activism and ideas with attempts to undermine the war effort. Perhaps more important, her credibility was challenged by sexist views characterizing her as a “silly” old woman. Her omission as a pioneering, feminist, peace theorist is a contemporary problem. This book recovers and reintegrates Addams and her concept of “positive peace,” which has relevancy for UN peacekeeping operations and community policing. Addams began her public life as a leader of the U.S. progressive era (1890 - 1920) social reform movement. She combined theory and action through her settlement work in the, often contentious, immigrant communities of Chicago. These experiences were the springboard for her innovative theories of democracy and peace, which she advanced through extensive public speaking engagements, 11 books and hundreds of articles. While this book focuses on Addams as peace theorist and activist it also shows how her eclectic interests and feminine standpoint led to pioneering efforts in American pragmatism, sociology, public administration and social work. Each field, which traces its origin to this period, is actively recovering Addams’ contributions.