"At a time when women were valued primarily for appearance, social class, and marital status, Martineau - plain, poor, and single - fought against the odds to win recognition as a writer. Her first professional triumph came in the 1830s when she published a multivolume work on political economy. International fame and literary reputation followed, launching a career that would span the next forty years and plunge Martineau into heated reform efforts on both sides of the Atlantic."--BOOK JACKET.