Alice Hamilton: A Life in Letters (Commonwealth Fund Publications) [Paperback]

Barbara Sicherman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1984 | Series: Commonwealth Fund Publications

Alice Hamilton (1869-1970), a pioneer in the study of diseases of the workplace, a founder of industrial toxicology in the United States, and Harvard's first woman professor, led a long and interesting life. Always a consummate professional, she was also a prominent social reformer whose interest in the environmental causes of disease and in promoting equitable living conditions developed during her years as a resident at Jane Addams' Hull-House. This legendary figure now comes to life in an integrated work of biography and letters that reveals the personal as well as the professional woman. In documenting Hamilton's evolution from a childhood of privilege to a life of social advocacy, the volume opens a window on women reformers and their role in Progressive Era politics and reform. Because Hamilton was a keen observer and vivid writer, her letters - more than 100 are included here - bring an unmatched freshness and immediacy to a range of subjects, such as medical education; personal relationships and daily life at Hull House; the women's peace movement; struggles for the protection of workers' health; academic life at Harvard; politics and civil liberties during the cold war; and, the process of growing old. Her story takes the reader from the Gilded Age to the Vietnam War.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book is a pleasure to read, no doubt in part because it conveys the lively intelligences of both Hamilton and Sicherman in an engaging and graceful duet." -- Martha Minow, Reviews in American History "An admirable book about an admirable subject... I cannot remember the last time I read a 'scholarly biography' with greater pleasure." -- Charles E. Rosenberg, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Barbara Sicherman is Kenan Professor of American Institutions and Values, Trinity College, and coeditor of Notable American Women: The Modern Period.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 488 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (December 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674015541
• ISBN-13: 978-0674015548
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,584,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)