The daughter of Alva Myrdal offers a portrait of the public triumphs and private difficulties of her mother's influential life. Myrdal was an advocate for women's rights and peace, an ambassador, Swedish cabinet minister and Nobel Prize winner. Her husband, Gunnar, was a noted economist, a Swedish minister and also a Nobel Prize winner.

First published in 1998. This is Volume XV of fifteen in the Sociology of Gender and the Family Series. Originally published in 1956, this study looks at the two roles of women of in the workplace and at home with the aim of looking at social reforms needed for the to reconcile family and a professional life in the period after World War II.

As two of the leading social scientists of the twentieth century, Alva and Gunnar Myrdal tried to establish a harmonious, “organic” Gemeinschaft [community] in order to fight an assumed disintegration of modern society. By means of functionalist architecture and by educating “sensible” citizens, disciplining bodies, and reorganizing social relationships they attempted to intervene in the lives of ordinary men. The paradox of this task was to modernize society in order to defend it against an “ambivalent modernity.” This combination of Weltanschauung [world view], social science, and technical devices became known as social engineering. The Myrdals started in the early 1930s with Sweden, and then chose the world as their working field. In 1938, Gunnar Myrdal was asked to solve the “negro problem” in the United States, and, in the 1970s, Alva Myrdal campaigned for the world's super powers to abolish all of their nuclear weapons. The Myrdals successfully established their own "modern American" marriage as a media image and role model for reform. Far from perfect, their marriage was disrupted by numerous conflicts, mirrored in thousands of private letters. This marital conflict propelled their urge for social reform by exposing the need for the elimination of irrational conflicts from everyday life. A just society, according to the Myrdals, would merge social expertise with everyday life, and ordinary men with the intellectually elite. Thomas Etzemüller's study of these two figures brings to light the roots of modern social engineering, providing insight for today's sociologists, historians, and political scholars.

In it, she creates an intimate, impassioned portrait of one of the great women of the 20th century.

Evocative recreation of life as seen by a child.

From the first woman Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Bertha von Suttner (1905), to the latest and youngest female Nobel laureate, Malala Yousafzai (2014), this book in its second edition provides a detailed look at the lives and accomplishments of each of these sixteen Prize winners. They did not expect recognition or fame for their work--economist Emily Greene Balch (1946) was surprised to learn that anyone knew about her. But they did not work in isolation: all met with discouragement, derision, threats or--in Yousafazi's case--attempted murder and exile. A history of the Prize and a biographical sketch of Alfred Nobel are included.

This book is about the importance of nuclear disarmament and the work pursued by Alva Myrdal, a pioneering social activist, diplomat, cabinet minister, and disarmament negotiator. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982 together with Alfonso García Robles "for their work for disarmament and nuclear and weapon-free zones". Prominent academics, politicians and practitioners have contributed reflections on Myrdal’s achievements and their impact on the world today. Furthermore, a sample of Myrdal’s own writings on nuclear disarmament are included, as well as significant speeches and a bibliography of her publications on nuclear matters. Alva Myrdal was born in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1902, graduated from college in Stockholm in 1924, and continued higher education at Uppsala University in the 1930s. She was a prolific author and reformer, specializing in social affairs, women’s roles and nuclear disarmament. She was Sweden’s Ambassador to India in the 1950s, for Nuclear Disarmament in the 1960s and 1970s, and a member of the Cabinet 1967-1973. Her most well-known works are "The Game of Disarmament" (1976), "Nation and Family" (1941), and "Women's Two Roles" (1956, with Viola Klein). Her book "The Game of Disarmament" (1976) is a key work in disarmament. The Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament was set up at Uppsala University in 2021 to contribute new ideas and concrete measures towards the elimination of nuclear weapons. Both editors are associated with the Centre, Professor Peter Wallensteen as a member of the board and leader of one of its working groups, and Dr. Armend Bekaj as a researcher. - This book is relevant for students of international relations and policy-makers on issues of peace and conflict. - It provides background documentation on the difficulties in achieving disarmament. - It illustrates the significant role women can play to infuse new ideas into a men’s world. - It displays the importance of persistence, rationality, ingenuity and knowledge in furthering nuclear disarmament. - It shows that Alva Myrdal’s efforts can be an inspiration for new generations.