I just finished Citizen : Jane Addams and the Struggle for Democracy by Louise W. Knight. This book focuses on the earlier part of her life, including her childhood, education and founding of Hull House. While the history of Jane Addams was very interesting, what I found most facinating in this book was the picture of life in Chicago at the turn of the 20th Century. Particularly the themes of corruption, patronage, machine politics. Many portions of this picture of life in Chicago don't seem to have changed much. The "machine" candidates are still getting elected, the poor areas of town are still getting screwed, and the powers that be seem more interested in their own power than in the job they're being paid to do.
The book was a bit slow-paced and seemed to contain a lot of speculation with regards to motives and thoughts. It seemed like the author had a picture of who Jane Addams was, and tried to fit the facts into that mold. While historically interesting, the book was not the most well written biography I've read.
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