Book Review

In recent years, early-twentieth-century maternalist, progressive reformers have been called grim traditionalists. Their anti-prostitution, pro–maternity home, and other efforts have been labeled punitive and coercive. In this volume, Katherine G. Aiken rehabilitates the rehabilitators. Focusing tightly on the National Florence Crittenton Mission between its founding in 1883 and the death of its longtime leader, Dr. Kate Waller Barrett, in 1925, Aiken shows that this organization was far more humanitarian, practical, feminist—modern—than usually portrayed.

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According to Aiken's reading of the rich trove of documents she draws on, Florence Crittenton homes were fundamentally forward-looking. Their staffs were largely paid and professional. Workers were genuinely dedicated to helping women in difficulty, not overworking or punishing them. Facilities were not prisonlike. They were homelike: welcoming, nurturing, and edifying. Under Dr. Barrett, the organization provided an astounding array of health, educational, vocational, and general welfare services to former prostitutes, destitute immigrants, victims of venereal disease, and unwed mothers and their children. Aiken argues that the Crittenton organization was concerned with building self-respect, self-reliance, and dignity—the hallmarks of American motherhood.

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