Rebel Cinderella

From Rags to Riches to Radical, the Epic Journey of Rose Pastor Stokes

By: Adam Hochschild

Narrated by: LIsa Flanagan

From the best-selling author of King Leopold's Ghost and Spain in Our Hearts comes the astonishing but forgotten story of an immigrant sweatshop worker who married an heir to a great American fortune and became one of the most charismatic radical leaders of her time.

Rose Pastor arrived in New York City in 1903, a Jewish refugee from Russia who had worked in cigar factories since the age of eleven. Two years later, she captured headlines across the globe when she married James Graham Phelps Stokes, scion of one of the legendary 400 families of New York high society. Together, this unusual couple joined the burgeoning Socialist Party and, over the next dozen years, moved among the liveliest group of activists and dreamers this country has ever seen. Their friends and houseguests included Emma Goldman, Big Bill Haywood, Eugene V. Debs, John Reed, Margaret Sanger, Jack London, and W.E.B. Du Bois. Rose stirred audiences to tears and led strikes of restaurant waiters and garment workers. She campaigned alongside the country’s earliest feminists to publicly defy laws against distributing information about birth control, earning her notoriety as “one of the dangerous influences of the country” from President Woodrow Wilson. But in a way no one foresaw, her too-short life would end in the same abject poverty with which it began.

By a master of narrative nonfiction, Rebel Cinderella unearths the rich, overlooked life of a social justice campaigner who was truly ahead of her time.

Lisa Flanagan is an award-winning narrator, voice actor, stage director, improviser, opera librettist and classical singer. Her VO work includes animation, video games, and commercials. Lisa has received multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, Voice Arts Awards, and the 2019 Audie Award winner for Fantasy (Spinning Silver). She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her cats.

A great history read, as romantic novel

This book will work as study or entertainment . I learned a lot. The title might put some off... go past it.

Terrific Book Made Me Want More

Incredible true story of a remarkable woman who made her mark on history
and made me want to listen to more books by Adam Hochschild and learn more about the activists of that time. Loved the details and the performance.

Fantastic Historical Piece

This book was a wonderful investigation into the appeal of the Cinderella myth in 1900s America. It tells not only the story of Rose Pastor Stokes but also the story of America during that time.

cinderella enduting myth

This was engrossing work, rrlevant for today. Current Attorney General Barr makes Palmer look good. The rule of law is threatened daily making this book an important tead.

terrific

I am of Russian jewish descent & the book was fascinating.I enjoyed it a lot