ELSIE FOX

From humble beginnings, Elsie Fox fought most of her adult life to ensure fairness and equality for all, even at the risk of her freedom.

Elsie’s life story is not an archetypal American tale. Born on a remote Montana ranch in 1907, she came from modest beginnings. She barely knew her birth father and lived with a stepfather that tried to sexually molest her–learning at a young age that she could not be beholden to a man to get by in the world. After finishing two years of college, Elsie entered the workforce full time. By the mid-1920s, she found a steady job as a secretary for an advertising agency in Seattle. As an independent woman, she took full advantage of the Jazz Age, going to speakeasies, dating various men and generally having a swell time. When the Great Depression hit, Elsie fumed at life’s unfairness. During one of the “bank holidays,” she found herself at the local library and happened upon The Communist Manifesto–she was radicalized that day, and fervently believed that the communist system was the only workable system. Elsie joined the party, which became her whole world, and her life began anew. She met her husband Ernest, another true believer, at a party meeting. In spite of the danger inherent in being a card-carrying communist, Elsie only stopped her active membership when she realized that the stories of Stalin’s purges weren’t merely capitalist propaganda but the truth. However, she still believed that as an economic system communism was the right path. What sets this biography apart is its subject–still alive as of the book’s 2008 publication, readers learn about modern-day Elsie, not just through the prism of history. They meet a scrappy older woman who is as passionate about her country and the rights of its inhabitants as she has ever been.

Evidence of a life most extraordinary.