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Louise W. Knight

Born: 1949 in Evanston, Illinois
Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: Knight was born in Evanston, Illinois and grew up in Wineetka, Illinois. She returned to Evanston in 1992 and currently resides there.

Biography: Knight is a biographer, public speaker, and writer. She has given talks at colleges and universities, including the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and Elmhurst College. She has written book reviews in The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, The Journal of Women’s History, The Journal of American History, and The Women’s Review of Books She is also an independent scholar and Visiting Scholar in the Gender Studies Program at Northwestern University. Her field is American history, with interests in nineteenth and twentieth century American reform, women’s history, Progressive history, and radical rhetoric.Her articles have been published in the ''Journal of Women’s History'', ''Gender & History'', the ''Journal of Community Practice'', and ''Affilia: Women and Social Work''. She has written book reviews for ''The New York Times Book Review'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Journal of Women’s History'', ''The Journal of American History'', and ''The Women’s Review of Books''. She also writes for the ''History News Service''. Her essays have appeared in three collections: American Reform and Reformers, Paul Cimbala and Randall Miller, eds. (Greenwood Press, 1996); Jane Addams and the Practice of Democracy, Marilyn Fischer et. al. (University of Illinois Press, 2009); and Feminist Interpretations of Jane Addams, Maurice Hamington, ed. (Penn State University Press, 2010). She provided entries about Jane Addams for ''The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest'' (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009) and ''The Child: An Encyclopedia Companion'' (University of Chicago Press, 2009) and an entry about Harriet Rice for ''Women Building Chicago: A Biographical Dictionary'', Rima Lunin Schultz and Adele Hast, eds. (Indiana University Press, 2001).


Awards:
  • In 2007 she received the Russell P. Strange Memorial Award for her “significant contribution to the study of Illinois history” from the Illinois State Historical Society.

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Email: lwk@louisewknight.com
Louise W. Knight on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=louise+w.+knight


Selected Titles

Citizen :
ISBN: 0226447006 OCLC: 58788922

University of Chicago Press, Chicago : ©2005.

Jane Addams was the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. This biography, covering the first half of Addams's life, reveals in detail her development as a political activist and social philosopher--we observe the powerful mind of a woman encountering the radical ideas of her age. Addams, a child of a wealthy family, longed for a life of larger purpose. After receiving an inheritance, she moved to Chicago in 1889 to co-found Hull House, the city's first settlement house--a neighborhood center for education and social gatherings. As 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, she was transformed: she came to understand that the national ideal of democracy was also a mandate for civic activism.--From publisher description.

Citizen :
ISBN: 9780226447018 OCLC: 309232839

University of Chicago Press, Chicago : ©2005.

Jane Addams was the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. This biography, covering the first half of Addams's life, reveals in detail her development as a political activist and social philosopher--we observe the powerful mind of a woman encountering the radical ideas of her age. Addams, a child of a wealthy family, longed for a life of larger purpose. After receiving an inheritance, she moved to Chicago in 1889 to co-found Hull House, the city's first settlement house--a neighborhood center for education and social gatherings. As 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, she was transformed: she came to understand that the national ideal of democracy was also a mandate for civic activism.--From publisher description.

Jane Addams :
ISBN: 9780393071658 OCLC: 601093936

Jane Addams (1860-1935) was one of the leading figures of the Progressive era. This pragmatic visionary, as Knight calls her, is best known as the creator of Hull House, a model settlement house offering training, shelter, and culture for Chicago's poor. Addams also involved herself in a long list of Progressive campaigns. Her rhetorical skills as both speaker and writer made her internationally recognized as a supporter of civil rights, woman suffrage, and labor reform.

 

 

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