The classic text on the pioneer women of pre-state Israel, updated in 2002.

The writings and voices of young Zionist women who immigrated to Palestine at the turn of the century offer an intimate look at life on a veritable frontier. Memoirists discuss tensions in communal living and disclose the hardships of working and raising families in isolated agricultural colonies. Nonetheless, their narratives depict women keenly motivated by the vision of creating a future Jewish homeland, an egalitarian society that would foster and celebrate individual growth, sustain family life, and provide a secure future for all. First published in 1932—and long out of print—this fully annotated new edition includes biographies of the book’s original contributors, photographs, glossaries of terms and places, and a map of pre-state Israeli society. The editors’ new introductory essays establish the literary and historical context for these narratives, discuss women in Zionist history, and focus on the work and family issues vexing these early pioneers.

Cross-listed in the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Series

Mark A. Raider is associate professor of modern Jewish history, chair of the Judaic Studies Department, and director of the Center for Jewish Studies, University of Albany. He is the author of The Emergence of American Zionism. Miriam B. Raider-Roth is assistant professor in the School of Education at SUNY Albany and author of Trusting What You Know: The High Stakes of Classroom Relationships.

“The Plough Woman makes an invaluable contribution in bringing forward the voices of these remarkable women and allowing us to hear them in all of their complexity. It is essential reading for everyone interested in women’s lives and utopian visions.”
–Carol Gilligan New York University, author of The Birth of Pleasure