Born in a Polish ghetto, the daughter of a famous rabbi, Ernestine Rose early rebelled against the traditional position of women. She preferred studying to sewing, reading books to boiling water. At sixteen, she went to court to prevent her father from marrying her to a man she did not love, and soon she was searching through Europe for a place where women could live in dignity. In England she met the great social reformer Robert Owen, and, fired with his progressive ideals, she and her young husband William Rose, set sail for New York.

In America, Ernestine Rose quickly saw the task that lay ahead. Slaves had to be freed. Woman needed rights over their property and their children; men had to learn to live in harmony. Encouraged by her husband, she pitted her eloquence and energy against the forces of ridicule, violence and bland indifference. With Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other determined women, she helped organize the women of America into a powerful instrument for sweeping change.

Battling black slavery in the South and feminine subjugation in the North, she struggled against overwhelming odds to make her adopted land move toward fulfilling its promise of liberty and justice for all. Some of her goals were reached during her long and active career; others were achieved after her death. A remarkable story of a little-known crusader.

From the dust jacket