Emma Goldman (1869 – 1940) was an anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the 20th century. Goldman played a crucial role in the development of an anarchist political philosophy in the U.S. and Europe in the first half of the 20th century. She emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 17 and was later deported to Russia, where she witnessed the effects of the Russian Revolution of 1917. She spent several years in southern France, where she wrote her autobiography Living My Life and other works, before participating in the Spanish Civil War in 1936 as a representative of the London chapter of the Federación Anarquista Ibérica. She is considered a prominent figure in both American anarchism and the early American peace movement. Her writings deal with a variety of issues, including prisons, atheism, free speech, militarism, capitalism, marriage, free love, and homosexuality. She found new ways to integrate gender issues into anarchism.