World Builders: Studies in Modern Feminism is a collection of essays written by journalist and literary critic Floyd Dell, exploring early 20th-century feminist thought and the cultural shifts it inspired. Dell was part of the Greenwich Village radical and literary scene, and this work reflects his progressive engagement with women’s emancipation, art, and intellectual freedom.

Main Themes and Content:

Profiles of Pioneering Women Writers: Dell discusses several influential women authors—such as Ellen Key, Olive Schreiner, H. G. Wells’s female contemporaries, and others—who were reshaping ideas of gender, sexuality, and individuality through literature.

“World Building” as Metaphor: The title refers to women creating new “worlds” — social, artistic, and intellectual — through their work. Dell sees feminism not merely as political reform but as a cultural revolution, building a more humane, creative, and equitable society.

Critique of Victorian Morality: Dell contrasts the restrictive moral codes of the 19th century with the freer, more experimental ideals of modern feminism, which he believes can liberate both women and men from repressive conventions.

Men and Feminism: He writes sympathetically about men’s role in supporting feminism, portraying gender equality as mutually beneficial rather than antagonistic.

World Builders is considered one of the earliest American male-authored defenses of feminism, emerging just before the U.S. women’s suffrage victory (1920). It documents the crossroads between early modernism and feminist thought, especially how literature was used to imagine new social possibilities. The book also provides a historical snapshot of how progressive men in 1913 understood the feminist movement, which makes it useful to scholars of gender studies and cultural history.

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