Rheta Childe Dorr achieved distinction as a female war correspondent during World War I. She was among the first women to be hired as a newspaper reporter, holding jobs ranging from woman's page editor to foreign correspondent. An ardent feminist, she spent a great deal of energy advocating the ratification of the nineteenth amendment. The topics of her newspaper stories, magazine articles, and books reflected her devotion to causes--particularly those of working women and children.

On 2 November 1866 Rheta Louise Child was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Edward Payson Child, a druggist, and Lucie Mitchell Child. Later in life she embellished her name to Childe, possibly to reflect her mother's French heritage. As a child Rheta was disturbed by poverty she saw in her community. On several occasions she came home with some of her clothes missing and no explanation why; the truth was not discovered until her mother...