Madeleine Pelletier's career as a practising doctor, psychiatrist and birth-control advocate also encompassed a passionate commitment to the socialist and feminist cause. Throughout her colourful life she challenged the values of male-dominated society, in the areas of politics, anthropology, psychiatry, sexuality and contraception. A prolific writer and pamphleteer, Pelletier corresponded with most of the leading feminists and socialists of her day, making frequent visits to international feminist conferences and even visiting post-revolutionary Russia.

Pelletier's career exemplified struggles within socialism, feminism and medicine. This biography focuses on her rise within the French Socialist party, on her efforts to make women's suffrage a socialist priority, and on the circle of feminists within whom she worked and corresponded.

Felicia Gordon's research has uncovered much hitherto unstudied material, including an unpublished memoir, many letters and police records. The result is a vivid portrait of a woman whose life and feminist analysis analysis anticipates that of late twentieth-century feminists.