Audacity Summary
Melanie Crowder

Audacity Overview

In a story inspired by true historical events, Melanie Crowder’s Audacity follows Clara Lemlich, an adolescent revolutionary on the rise, as she attempts to gain freedom and equality for the working class. After immigrating from a small Russian shtetl to bustling New York in the early twentieth century, Clara enthusiastically fights to establish equal rights for workers in a socio-economic structure that is built to exploit the most vulnerable members of society. Dedicating herself to the labor fight of unionization, Clara’s devotion challenges her family’s Jewish customs and American societal norms, destabilizes her own faith, and forces her to make unprecedented sacrifices for the greater good of the working class. Crowder explores themes such as antisemitism, patriarchy, feminism, classism, democracy, police brutality, and personal empowerment.