What to read after Waging Peace?

A biography of the Nobel Prize winning woman who founded Hull House, one of the first settlement houses in the United States, and who championed public health, Women's Suffrage, the international peace movement, and helped found the NAACP. The first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Jane Addams is remembered for her work for justice and equality at Hull House and for her contributions to the Progressive movement. The story of Jane Addams provides well over a hundred pages covering the life and achievements of a woman resolved to help those in poverty. She came from a privileged upbringing which includes travel in Europe, but when she discovered the poverty under her eyes, she brought the settlement house idea of England to Chicago, opening the famous Hull House for the poor. Her achievements would change a city and open eyes to life in the slums. Caravantes chronicles Addams' early years, including the death of her mother when she was two and the teachings of her father, a self described Hicksite Quaker, a follower of Elias Hicks. The lessons she learned regarding personal integrity, charity, and religious tolerance were ones she carried throughout her life. During a trip to Europe as a young woman, she seized upon the idea of a cathedral of humanity, a house from which to reach out to the poor. The idea of Hull House was born. The author does a good job of portraying the experiences that laid the groundwork for the remainder of the woman's life. The majority of the book focuses on the building of Hull House in Chicago; Addams' quest for social justice, including her fight against child labor in Illinois; her crusades against corruption in the Chicago Wards; and her involvement in peace and suffragist movements and in the Progressive Party. Archival black and white photos, most from the Jane Addams Memorial Collection of the University of Illinois, grace the book. This is a solid addition to women's history collections.