Jane Addams Critical Essay | Critical Essay by The Nation

Critical Essay by The Nation

SOURCE: A review of Twenty Years at Hull-House, in The Nation, Vol. 91, No. 2374, December 29, 1910, pp. 634-35.

In the following review, the critic considers Twenty Years at Hull-House primarily from the standpoint of the biographical information it offers on Addams.

"Which is better," asks Professor Cooley in his Social Organization, "fellowship or distinction? There is much to be said on both sides, but the finer spirits of our day lean toward the former, and find it more human and exhilarating to spread abroad the good things the world already has than to prosecute a lonesome search for new ones. I notice among the choicest people I know—those who seem to me most representative of the inner trend of democracy—a certain generous contempt for distinction and a passion to cast their lives heartily on the general current." This penetrating observation is suggested by Miss Jane Addams's new book...
(read more)