The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets

When 'The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets' was first published in 1909, Jane Addams was the most famous woman in America. A celebrity and spiritual leader, she was widely regarded as practical, realistic, and endowed with a special insight into the problems of urban America. This book--her favorite of the ones she authored--examines the causes for the discontent of youth in the city, chiding educators for their "persistent blindness to youth's most obvious needs." Addams argues for the importance of providing direction and focus--for example, through public recreation, practical education, and experiences in the arts--for the pent-up energies of young men and women. She takes a realistic view of their basic social and sexual drives and their disaffection and alienation in an industrial world. At the same time, she rejects the hereditary explanations for delinquency that prevailed in her day. Jane Addams (1860 - 1935) was a pioneer settlement worker, founder of Hull House in Chicago, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace. Beside presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, she was the most prominent reformer of the Progressive Era and helped turn the nation to issues of concern to mothers, such as the needs of children, public health, and world peace. She said that if women were to be responsible for cleaning up their communities and making them better places to live, they needed the vote to be effective in doing so. Addams became a role model for middle-class women who volunteered to uplift their communities. She is increasingly recognized as a member of the American pragmatist school of philosophy. In 1931 she became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.