Dale Fetherling is a working journalist, formerly with the Minneapolis Tribune and presently with the Los Angeles Times. He received his B.A. degree from West Virginia University and his M.S. degree from Northwestern University. A native of West Virginia, where Mother Jones remains an active legend, he became curi­ous, intrigued, and finally immersed in the life of this extraordinary woman.

[Dale Fetherling’s] “tribute to the in­domitable old Irish biddy, who never weighed more than 100 pounds, is thor­oughly documented, eloquent and mov­ing.”—Jack Conroy, ChicagoSun-Times
 

“This book tells all that can be found out about the old woman whom hundreds of thousands of miners called mother and a district attorney called ‘the most dan­gerous woman in America.’”—Fred Thompson, Industrial Worker

“Dale Fetherling… has written a schol­arly portrait which is also a labor of love,… In this first attempt ever to ‘distill her legacy,’ he concludes that ‘she may have been the most spectacular woman the country has produced, and she was certainly the most loved and dramatic female in the nation’s labor movement.’”—History

“A human portrait in historical perspec­tive emerges from these pages, as fine a story as anyone who lived an active life for a century could claim, and it is high­ly recommended to all readers of bi­ography, labor history, and Illinois history.”—John H. Keister, Pennsylvania History.