'We have never really understood her: even sympathetic writers have misrepresented Voltairine de Cleyre. Was she a self-denying martyr or a Nietzschean egoist? Mired in the nineteenth century, or in advance of her time? Rita Filanti takes on the challenge of this anarchist-feminist forerunner in all her complexity, situating her in transatlantic political networks. A frustrating, fascinating figure, de Cleyre has never been given such a full assessment.' Prof. Jesse Cohn, author of Underground Passages 'Focusing on de Cleyre's work as translator, educator, and poet, Rita Filanti offers a rich new appreciation of her anarchism as grounded in the radical traditions of the American transcendentalists, Quakers, and early abolitionists. Filanti's discussion of de Cleyre's poetry is fresh and thrilling, showing how Voltairine's engagement with language upends 'the fetish of monolingualism' to celebrate hybrid encounters between equals.' Prof. Kathy E Ferguson, author of Letterpress Revolution and Emma Goldman: Political thinking in the streets Voltairine de Cleyre (1866-1912) remains little-known today, although Emma Goldman considered her 'the greatest woman-Anarchist of America'.

Based on extensive new research and archival discoveries, Rita Filanti follows the evolution of de Cleyre's thought, from early conversion to untimely death. Focusing on her pedagogy and translations, and re-evaluating her poetry and prose, the book combines a close reading of de Cleyre's writings with in-depth analysis of her transnational and translingual engagements -- with the Modern School movement, American-Jewish life, the 'Woman Question', and the Mexican Revolution.