Luisa Capetillo (1879-1922) was a pioneer in the struggle for women's and workers' rights. A feminist and an anarchist, she earned her living as a labor leader and journalist. She wrote brilliant theoretical essays and published four books, including several plays. Ahead of her time, she espoused vegetarianism, a daily regime of Swedish calisthenics, and was the first woman in the Caribbean to wear pants in public. Her life can be read as a dramatic novel, every day an intense ode to personal and political liberation. This biography, the only in-depth historical account of her life and work, rescued her from oblivion and made her a popular icon throughout Latin America. This edition, the first available in English, brings Capetillo's inspiring story to a broader audience.
«Luisa Capetillo was a radical, a feminist, and a labor organizer in Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the United States. Her story reveals how a woman of her time, and in the cultural world of the Caribbean, decided to live a free life. This wonderful book shows us that the ideals that link personal freedom and social justice, ideas that seem so contemporary, indeed have roots. Initially published in Capetillo's home of Puerto Rico, this biography is now translated and available to readers in the United States. It brings this dramatic and inspiring woman to life and to history.» (Paul C. Mishler, Coordinator of Labor Studies, Indiana University South Bend; Author of 'Raising Reds: Young Pioneers, Radical Summer Camps and Communist Political Culture' (1999))