Fireweed: A Political Autobiography

Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2002. Illustrated. Hardcover. Good in good dust jacket. Ex-library. Usual library markings. DJ, in plastic sleeve, pasted to boards.. xiii, 377 p. Illustrations. Occasional footnotes. This is one of the Critial Perspectives on the Past series. This autobiography by a leftist feminist and historian tells of her birth in Vienna and her happy life before Nazism, and her departure from Europe and arrival in America. There, she lived a life politically contrary to the mainstream. The author was to become a founder of the National Organization of Women. 'The author, a scholar and pioneer in the field of Women's History, shares her story of growing up in an affluent Jewish family and spending much of her adult life working for liberal causes, including the unionization of the film industry, peace and justice, civil rights and education. Pioneering radical feminist. "In Fireweed, Gerda Lerner, a pioneer and leading scholar in women's history, tells her story of moral courage and commitment to social change with a novelist's skill and a historian's command of context. Lerner's memoir focuses on the formative experiences that made her an activist for social justice before her academic career began.