A Jewish refugee from Russia, Rose Pastor (1879-1933) arrived in New York City in 1903, and just two years later, this former cigar factory worker made headlines when she married James Graham Phelps Stokes, scion of one of the legendary 400 families of New York high society. Together, this unusual couple joined the burgeoning Socialist Party and befriended Emma Goldman, Eugene V. Debs, Margaret Sanger, Jack London, and W.E.B. Du Bois. As the author of King Leopold's Ghost recounts here, Rose stirred audiences to tears and led strikes of restaurant waiters and garment workers. But in a way no one foresaw, this pioneering feminist's restless life would end in the same abject poverty with which it began.

"Lucidly written and painstakingly researched, this is a joy to read, cementing Pastor in her rightful place with other progressive figures of the time."--Library Journal (starred review)