Paperback Edition
ISBN: 9781936932788
Publication Date: 10-08-2019

Introduction by Paola Mendoza
Foreword by Alice Walker
Afterword by Nancy Hoffman

A Feminist Press classic, reissued with a new introduction.

This semiautobiographical account of an early twentieth-century activist recounts growing up in rural poverty in farming settlements and mining towns; discovering the double standards of race and sex among East Coast intellectuals; facing false espionage charges; and maintaining independence through two tormented marriages. Groundbreaking in its portrayal of sexism within the socialist movement, Daughter of Earth was uniquely prescient in its intersectional exploration of oppression, and endures as a necessary text for progressive social movements today.

"Agnes Smedley's memories tasted of hunger." —The New York Times Book Review

"A tale of American disinheritance told from the inside out, [this novel] is essentially about Smedley's struggle to come to spiritual consciousness in a world of unimaginable cruelty and deprivation. . . An entire society is limned in the pages of this book. . . The power of Daughter of Earth lies in the erotic heat which informs every page of the book, erotic in the original Greek sense of life force." —The Village Voice

Our reissue of this feminist classic is supported by the following generous donors:

Anonymous (3)
Jan Constantine
Lucía Guerra
Arianne Hartsell-Gundy

Interested in teaching this book in your classroom or reading it with your book club? Download an educator’s guide and discussion questions here!