Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was a Nigerian activist who fought for suffrage and equal rights for her countrywomen long before the second wave of the women's movement in the United States. Her involvement in international women's organizations led her to travel the world in the period following World War II. She championed the causes of the poor and downtrodden of both sexes as she joined the anticolonial movement struggling for Nigeria's independence.
 
For Women and the Nation is the story of this courageous woman. One of a handful of full-length biographies of African women, let alone of African women activists, it will be welcomed by students of women's studies, African history, and biography, as well as by those interested in exploring the historical background of Nigeria.
 

Cheryl Johnson-Odim, chair and associate professor of history at Loyola University Chicago, is coeditor of Expanding the Boundaries of Women's History. Nina Emma Mba, senior lecturer in history at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, is the author of Nigerian Women Mobilized and Ayo Rosijc.