Emma Goldman could not have known that the years from 1910 to 1916 would be her most prolific, perhaps the most celebrated period in her entire life, both then and now. Reveling in love and in anarchy, cushioned by a time of comparative tolerance for challenging ideas and interest in the new, Goldman blossomed as a political theorist, author, orator, and internationalist. The circles of her influence rippled away from the predominantly immigrant radical culture of New York City's Lower East Side and moved into a broader milieu of bohemians and radical intellectuals. With a remarkable ability to articulate the wrongs of a country permeated by brutal labor violence and dire poverty-accentuated by unprecedented wealth-Goldman sought to incite the public either to take action or to empathize with those who did.
This volume's primary sources include a remarkable selection of letters, newspaper reportage, government surveillance documents, essays and speeches, photographs, and lecture bills, all paired with detailed scholarly annotation. In addition, the volume is prefaced by a narrative and analytical essay by Candace Falk.
Candace Falk is the founding editor and director of the Emma Goldman Papers project. She is the author of Love, Anarchy, and Emma Goldman (1984), named New York Times Notable Biography of the Year, and is also a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow. Barry Pateman is the associate editor of the Emma Goldman Papers, curator of the Kate Sharpley Library, and editor of Chomsky on Anarchism (2005).
"A work of scholarship and a labor of love . . . The care taken in the introduction is repeated throughout."