Jane Addams: The Nancy Grace of Her Time?

Jane Addams.Jane AddamsThe Chicago social reformer Jane Addams is safely ensconced in the pantheon of liberal heroes, and for good reason. She had a hand in almost every early-20th century progressive cause, from suffrage to the labor movement. She co-founded the ACLU and the NAACP, helped lead the Progressive Party, and became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. As every schoolchild once knew, she also founded Hull House, one of the most influential social-service organizations in American history. When Addams died, the Chicago City Council issued a proclamation declaring her "the greatest woman who ever lived." The British labor leader John Burns went so far as to call Addams the first saint America had produced.

Saints often fade into history because their legacies are settled. But Addams' image as a pro forma progressive belies a more complicated reality. In connection with a burst of attention that coincides with the 150th anniversary of her birth, Addams has a real claim to be reconsidered not as a dutifully respected progressive but, rather, an independent thinker and doer who was neither universally adored nor chained to liberal orthodoxy. In short, she was interesting....