Ballots, Babies, and Banners of Peace

American Jewish Women’s Activism, 1890-1940

Winner of the 2013 National Jewish Book Award, Women's Studies

Ballots, Babies, and Banners of Peace explores the social and
political activism of American Jewish women from approximately
1890 to the beginnings of World War II.

Written in an engaging style, the book demonstrates that no history
of the birth control, suffrage, or peace movements in the United
States is complete without analyzing the impact of Jewish women's
presence. The volume is based on years of extensive primary
source research in more than a dozen archives and among hundreds
of primary sources, many of which have previously never
been seen. Voluminous personal papers and institutional records
paint a vivid picture of a world in which both middle-class and
working-class American Jewish women were consistently and
publicly engaged in all the major issues of their day and worked
closely with their non-Jewish counterparts on behalf of activist
causes.

This extraordinarily well researched volume makes a unique contribution
to the study of modern women's history, modern Jewish
history, and the history of American social movements.