Always a Sister

Pioneer nurse, social reformer, founder of the Henry Street Settlement on New York's Lower East Side, Lillian Wald (1867-1940) is usually associated with ``do-gooders'' like Jane Addams, so Daniels's attempt to interpret her achievements in the context of her feminism is welcome. As it is revealed in this admiring biography, however, Wald's feminism was largely instinctive and unsystematic and secondary to her commitment to other causes. In an age before public funding, she courted the wealthy and powerful, made herself a consultant to Tammany Hall. To attract donations or win converts to the cause of female suffrage, the Cincinnati-born dynamo frequently denied or soft-pedaled her feminist beliefs. Daniels, a professor at Nassau Community College in New York, tracks Wald's participation in numerous issues--rights of working women, trade unionism, disarmament, the campaign against child labor, etc. She denies claims that Wald was a lesbian, viewing her more as a mother figure to nurses and lay workers. Photos. (June)