Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America by Elliot J Gorn is a biography of Mary Jones (nee Harris) who came to America from Ireland, lost everything and everyone she loved to disease and violence. And then she went into high gear.Starting very late in life Mother Jones was a force to recokoned with in Labour organisation, anti child labour laws and stood against the right wing nut jobs who took the law in their own hands (literally).
From the age of 60 onwards until her 90's she was a fascinating conundrum of power, success, failure and confusion. I knew of her from the magazine named in her honour, but never in this great detail. The biography is warts and all and is ready to point out her failures and lies, but still treats her with respect and dignity - a fine line in such an interesting and controversial character.
Next Week. Unknown yet. Maybe a book on biblical historical records and maybe 1984.
No comments:
Post a Comment