Rosalie Edge (1877-1962) was the first American woman to achieve national renown as a conservationist. Dyana Z. Furmansky draws on Edge s personal papers and on interviews with family members and associates to portray an implacable, indomitable personality whose activism earned her the names Joan of Arc and hellcat. A progressive New York socialite and veteran suffragist, Edge did not join the conservation movement until her early fifties. Nonetheless, her legacy of achievements--called "widespread and monumental" by the New Yorker--forms a crucial link between the eras defined by...

Rosalie Edge (1877-1962) was the first American woman to achieve national renown as a conservationist. Dyana Z. Furmansky draws on Edge s personal papers and on interviews with family members and associates to portray an implacable, indomitable personality whose activism earned her the names Joan of Arc and hellcat. A progressive New York socialite and veteran suffragist, Edge did not join the conservation movement until her early fifties. Nonetheless, her legacy of achievements--called "widespread and monumental" by the New Yorker--forms a crucial link between the eras defined by...