Meigs describes Jane Addams as a woman ahead of her time, someone whose ideas were controversial throughout most of her own lifetime but began to gain acceptance during the 1930s and had been vindicated by 1970. She points out Addams's influence on Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration and on modern social theory. Meigs discusses several of the controversies involving Addams but presents Addams as a victim of public hysteria, greedy businessmen, corrupt politicians, and a malicious press. In short, Meigs idealizes Addams and so minimizes her role in creating opposition. Nevertheless, the biography itself is unlikely to be controversial now.

The few of Addams's opponents it mentions by name are not discussed in detail and most are presented as victims of pride or misguided ideas. Moreover, most of the issues considered controversial at the turn of the century arouse little emotion today.

Clearly Meigs admires Addams, comparing her...