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The book Against the Wind… Reading the Life of Józefa Śmigielska-Dobieszewska is a biography of the nineteenth-century suffragette, whose life spanned nearly eight decades, from 1821 to 1899. From this perspective, Śmigielska turns out to be a remarkable figure in the Polish culture of the Noon of the 19th century," a representative of a fascinating generation of "Sober Enthusiasts," and a woman who was not free of weaknesses, but who was certainly courageous and independent, and at the same time common-sense and witty. A writer, journalist, educator, social activist, and precursor of sociological observation - in spite of male-centric social structures – she proved in many fields of her activity that women's self-development can serve the entire community with good results. Her literary works, articles, reports, editorial ventures, and high-profile public appearances (such as lectures on popular science) provoked discussion among her contemporaries and inspired generations of women positivists (including Eliza Orzeszkowa). This book, which draws on many archival and press sources, reconstructs Śmigielska's remarkable journey from the times when she adhered to very traditional ideas about the role of women in society to the moment when she boldly and as a partner commented on current socio-political events in the magazines of the Kingdom of Poland and Galicia.Thus, indirectly, it is also a story about the actual birth of the emancipation movement, which in its Polish origins successfully established an alliance between tradition and modernization.

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