Ethel Sturges Dummer has been named one of the most influential American women of the last century. Based in Chicago, she was an internationally-recognized community activist in the areas of education, juvenile delinquency and rights, and public health. Using an exclusive family collection of letters and writings by and about Dummer, her granddaughter, the author, traces the key accomplishments of this remarkable woman as she acted as a catalyst for change and mentor of early Progressive thought in the American heartland.