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Linda Gordon

アイリーン・リンダ・ゴードン

Irene Linda Gordon

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1940-01-19 （Chicago, Illinois, United States）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Portland, Oregon (considers her hometown) → Boston, Massachusetts (worked at UMass Boston) → Madison, Wisconsin (worked at University of Wisconsin–Madison) → New York City, New York (residence)

Career

Occupations
historian, university professor, author
Active Years
1968-
Affiliations
University of Massachusetts Boston, University of Wisconsin–Madison, New York University (NYU), Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (Harvard) affiliation
Memberships
American Philosophical Society, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Founding associate editor, Journal of Women's History

Education

Swarthmore College
History (BA)
Degree: BA
Period: 1957–1961
Year of Graduation: 1961
Country: United States
Yale University
History and Russian Studies (MA) / History (PhD)
Degree: MA, PhD
Period: 1961–1970
Year of Graduation: 1970
Country: United States
Doctoral dissertation later published as Cossack Rebellions (1983)

Awards

Bancroft Prize
2000
Work: The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction
Organization: Columbia University (Bancroft Prize)
Result: 受賞
Bancroft Prize
2010
Work: Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits
Organization: Columbia University (Bancroft Prize)
Result: 受賞
Joan Kelly Prize
1988
Work: Heroes of Their Own Lives
Organization: American Historical Association
Result: 受賞
Antonovych Prize
1983
Work: Cossack Rebellions
Organization: Antonovych Foundation
Result: 受賞
Berkshire Prize
1994
Work: Pitied But Not Entitled
Organization: Berkshire Prize
Result: 受賞
Gustavus Myers Human Rights Award
1994
Work: Pitied But Not Entitled
Organization: Gustavus Myers Center
Result: 受賞
Albert J. Beveridge Award
2000
Work: The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction
Organization: American Historical Association
Result: 受賞
Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Biography)
2010
Work: Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits
Category: Biography
Organization: Los Angeles Times
Result: 受賞
WILLA Literary Award
2010
Work: Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits
Organization: WILLA Literary Awards
Result: 受賞
National Arts Club Prize (arts writing)
2010
Work: Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits
Organization: National Arts Club
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Woman's Body, Woman's Right: The History of Birth Control Politics in America

1976 Non-fiction (history)

A comprehensive history of birth control politics in the United States. Revised and expanded edition published in 2002 as The Moral Property of Women.

reproductive politicswomen's historysocial movements

Cossack Rebellions: Social Turmoil in the Sixteenth-Century Ukraine

1983 Non-fiction (history)

An academic study of sixteenth-century Cossack rebellions and social turmoil in Ukraine, based on her doctoral dissertation.

early modern Eastern Europecollective actionpower and rebellion

Heroes of Their Own Lives: The Politics and History of Family Violence

1988 Non-fiction (social history)

Examines the U.S. response to family violence, including child abuse and spousal violence, situating these issues within broader social and political contexts.

family violencechild protectionsocial policy

Pitied But Not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare

1994 Non-fiction (social history)

Analyzes U.S. welfare policy from 1890 to 1935 and the historical treatment of single mothers within that system.

welfare historygenderpoverty

The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction

1999 Non-fiction (microhistory)

A microhistorical account of a 1904 vigilante action in Arizona that exposed how racism could override concern for children's welfare.

racismchildren's welfarelocal community dynamics

Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits

2009 Biography / Non-fiction

A biography of photographer Dorothea Lange that includes the discovery and publication of a significant group of previously unpublished photographs.

history of photographyinternment and migrationart and politics

Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment in World War II

2006 Edited volume (photography history)

An edited volume presenting previously impounded Dorothea Lange photographs of Japanese American internment, with essays and commentary.

censorshipWorld War IIphotographic documentation

The Second Coming of the KKK: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political Tradition

2017 Non-fiction (political history)

Analyzes the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and its influence on American political traditions.

white supremacypolitical culturerace history

Seven Social Movements That Changed America

2025 Non-fiction (social movements history)

Surveys seven major social movements in American history and evaluates their roles in social change.

social movementscivil rightsgender

Bibliography

  • Woman's Body, Woman's Right (1976)
  • Cossack Rebellions (1983)
  • Heroes of Their Own Lives (1988)
  • Pitied But Not Entitled (1994)
  • The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction (1999)
  • The Moral Property of Women (2002, revised)
  • Impounded (2006, ed.)
  • Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits (2009)
  • Feminism Unfinished (2014, co-authored)
  • The Second Coming of the KKK (2017)
  • Inge Morath: Magnum Legacy (2018)
  • Seven Social Movements That Changed America (2025)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
archival, multi-layered source analysisnarrative microhistory integrating personal storiesscholarly yet accessible prose
Recurring Motifs
gender and familywelfare and the staterace and citizenshipphotography and visual culture

Legacy

Linda Gordon is a historian who has made major contributions to 20th-century U.S. social policy, gender, and welfare history. Her interdisciplinary approach and use of microhistory have reached broad audiences; she is notably a two-time Bancroft Prize winner.

Academic Societies

  • American Philosophical Society
  • American Academy of Arts & Sciences (associated)

Archives

  • Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute (related papers)

Quotes

  • No matter what your politics or personality, I think all red diaper babies have in common this notion that people have the power to make things happen and people have a responsibility to make things happen.
    Source: The Guardian (interview) (2003)

Trivia

  • Her father was a Jewish immigrant from Šumskas (then in Poland, now Lithuania); she has described herself as a 'red diaper baby.'
  • She is one of only a few historians to have won the Bancroft Prize twice.
  • She discovered and helped publish a set of previously impounded Dorothea Lange photographs (Impounded, 2006).