Robbin Légère Henderson, the editor and illustrator of this memoir, should, along with the Institute for Labor Relations at Cornell University, be congratulated for providing such a splendid volume, one that will be of interest and enjoyment to scholars and general readers alike. Written in a very readable style that blends Matilda Rabinowitz’s words with the commentary of Henderson, her granddaughter, the book tells the story of an immigrant girl from a Jewish family who came to America from Ukraine in the early twentieth century. Immigrant Girl, Radical Woman will take a place of importance in American labor history, Jewish history, and the history of the American working class, socialism, women, and sexuality.
Family members discovered Rabinowitz’s memoir, which she had titled, plainly, “My Story,” only after her death in Los Angeles in 1963, and as such it had not been intended for a public audience. At the time of...
