Overview

Women reformers in the United States and Germany maintained a brisk dialogue between 1885 and 1933. Drawing on one another's expertise, they sought to alleviate a wide array of social injustices generated by industrial capitalism, such as child labor and the exploitation of women in the workplace. This book presents and interprets documents from that exchange, most previously unknown to historians, which show how these interactions reflected the political cultures of the two nations. On both sides of the Atlantic, women reformers pursued social justice strategies. The documents discussed here reveal the influence of German factory legislation on debates in the United States, point out the differing contexts of the suffrage movement, compare pacifist and antipacifist reactions of women to World War I, and trace shifts in the feminist movements of both countries after the war. Social Justice Feminists in the United States and Germany provides insight into the efforts of American and German women over half a century of profound social change. Through their dialogue, these women explicate their larger political cultures and the place they occupied in them.

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9780801484698

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Reviews

""Well-framed and carefully researched... Social Justice Feminists affords college readers the opportunity to hear the voices of women as world citizens and agents of social change, individuals for whom the democratic ideal remained a struggle rather than an assurance.""-Transformations ""This collection presents and analyzes documents of the transnational dialogue between German and American women social justice reformers between 1885 and 1933. Speeches, correspondence, publications, and reports of women's conferences make up the wide array of documents that illustrate an intense and transatlantic exchange of ideas and friendships. As the editors write in the informative and in-depth introduction, this book contributes to comparative historical inquiry... ""-Jennifer Anne Davy, Journal of Women's History, Spring 2000. ""This selection ... contains sufficient documentation of the difficulties and problems feminists went through to make the volume a useful contribution to the comparative history of women's activism and social welfare in Germany and the USA as well as to the ongoing internalization of feminist history.""-Richard J. Evans, University of Cambridge. German History. July, 2000. ""Fascinating and informative. Sheds new light on U.S. and German women's work for world peace before World War II.""-Gerda Lerner ""Social Justice Feminists lovingly brings to life a world of shared politics, commitments, and friendships among German and American women struggling for social reform, women's rights, and peace. Through well-chosen private correspondence, published letters, speeches, and reports, Sklar, Schuler, and Strasser introduce us to the women who forged an important transatlantic connection spanning more than four tumultuous decades. The documents-and the editors-beautifully crafted introduction-tell the story of differences and similarities across national borders, an international passion for social justice, and hopes raised and dashed.""-Leila J. Rupp, Ohio State University

This collection presents and analyzes documents of the transnational dialogue between German and American women social justice reformers between 1885 and 1933. Speeches, correspondence, publications, and reports of women's conferences make up the wide array of documents that illustrate an intense and transatlantic exchange of ideas and friendships. As the editors write in the informative and in-depth introduction, this book contributes to comparative historical inquiry. . . -Jennifer Anne Davy, Journal of Women's History, Spring 2000.

Author Information

Kathryn Kish Sklar is Distinguished Professor of History at State University of New York, Binghamton. Anya Schüler is a Ph.D. candidate in Modern History at the Free University of Berlin. Susan Strasser is Professor of History at the University of Delaware. She is the author of Women's Rights Emerges within the Anti-Slavery Movement: A Short History with Documents, Waste and Want, Commodifying Everything, and Who Built America? and the coeditor of several books, including Women and Power in American History.

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