Our Mrs Roosevelt: Review of Lenore Coltheart (ed.) 'Jessie Street: A Revised Autobiography' Federation Press, $30pb, 246pp, 1 86287 502 2

Abstract

Jessie Street's autobiography should be compulsory reading for anyone who seeks political change. In the dedication to her mother's book, Belinda Mackay writes that she hopes 'the women of today will be inspired by the spirit of Jessie Street and her visions'. To describe this autobiography as inspiring is an understatement. It is an extraordinary record of a remarkable life. Indeed, it is difficult to know how to explain Street's immense contribution to women's rights, welfare economics, social justice and peace studies. Jessie Street worked tirelessly over the course of her fifty-year career to better the lives of people everywhere. She served with Pablo Picasso on the World Peace Council, and met and worked with Nancy Astor, Eleanor Roosevelt and Jawaharlal Nehru. This new edition of her autobiography (first published in 1966) documents Street's relentless social work meticulously, clearly and, at times, quite humorously.