A Woman's Life

In 1908, Pauline Wengeroff published the first piece of writing by a woman in the history of Jewish literature to tell the story of a life and a family with historical consciousness and purpose. It is also the first account in this literature to make women, and men, the focus of inquiry. Shulamit Magnus's biography of this extraordinary woman lets readers share Wengeroff's life, her aspirations, and her disappointments, making a significant contribution both to women's history and to our understanding of the emergence and shape of Jewish modernity.