The Women's Peace Union (WPU) grew out of the women's suffrage movement of the early twentieth century. In an important contribution, Harriet Hyman Alonso investigates the personalities and the philosophical disagreements of the WPU leading members on their political tactics and fierce commitment to pacifism and feminism, and on their eventual burnout.

Drawing on a wealth of primary materials, Alonso traces the lineage of today's women's peace movement from Garrisonian abolitionism through the suffrage movement groups such as the WPU to contemporary efforts of the Seneca Women's Peace Encampment.