[3] Often set in her native Midwest, these semi-autobiographical tales typically explore contemporary social issues, such as gender, ethics, and dissent, while featuring deep, sympathetic characters who make principled stands.

[5] In the early 21st century, Glaspell is today recognized as a pioneering feminist writer and America's first important modern female playwright.

[12] Growing up directly across the river from Black Hawk's ancestral village, Glaspell was also influenced by the Sauk leader's autobiography; he wrote that Americans should be worthy inheritors of the land.

[13] Glaspell was an accomplished student in the city's public schools, taking an advanced course of study and giving a commencement speech at her 1894 graduation.

[16] A Des Moines Daily News article on her graduation ceremony cited Glaspell as "a leader in the social and intellectual life of the university.

"[17] The day after graduation, Glaspell began working full-time for the Des Moines paper as a reporter, a rare position for a woman, particularly as she was assigned to cover the state legislature and murder cases.

[18] After covering the conviction of a woman accused of murdering her abusive husband, Glaspell abruptly resigned at age twenty-four.

She used a large cash prize from a short story magazine to finance her move to Chicago, where she wrote her first novel, The Glory of the Conquered, published in 1909.

It was a best-seller, and The New York Times declared, "Unless Susan Glaspell is an assumed name covering that of some already well-known author—and the book has qualities so out of the ordinary in American fiction and so individual that this does not seem likely—The Glory of the Conquered brings forward a new author of fine and notable gifts.

The New York Times said of the book, "it does prove Miss Glaspell's staying power, her possession of abilities that put her high among the ranks of American storytellers.

To escape Davenport's disapproving gossip and seek a larger artistic world, Glaspell and Cook moved to New York City's Greenwich Village.

There they became key participants in America's first avant-garde artistic movement, and associated with many of the era's most well-known social reformers and activists, including Upton Sinclair, Emma Goldman, and John Reed.

Glaspell became a leading member of Heterodoxy, an early feminist debating group composed of the premier women's rights crusaders.

Today considered an early feminist masterpiece, it was an instant success, riveting audiences with its daring views of justice and morality.

"[24] While considering new plays to produce, Glaspell discovered Eugene O'Neill, who would eventually be recognized as one of the greatest playwrights in American history.

As the company became more successful, playwrights began to view it as a means to get picked up by other, more commercial theatre venues, a violation of the group's original purpose.

In order to support herself and her husband during their years with the theater, Glaspell continued to submit short stories to top periodicals for publication.

It was during her productive time as a playwright that Glaspell also established herself as, in the words of biographer Linda Ben-Zvi, "a central figure in the development of the modern American short story.

"[26] Glaspell returned to Cape Cod after Cook's death, where she wrote a well-received biography and tribute to her late husband, The Road to the Temple (1927).

In this period she wrote three best-selling novels, which she considered personal favorites: Brook Evans (1928), Fugitive's Return (1929), and Ambrose Holt and Family (1931).

Her short stories were regularly printed in the era's top periodicals, and her New York Times obituary states that she was "one of the nation's most widely-read novelists."

In 1940, a new generation of influential Broadway-based critics began publishing derogatory reviews of her plays, having a sizable effect on her long-term standing.

Exacerbating the issue was Glaspell's reluctance to seek publicity and her tendency to downplay her own accomplishments, perhaps a result of her modest Midwestern upbringing.

With major achievements in drama, novel, and short fiction, Glaspell is often cited as a "prime example" of an overlooked female writer deserving canonization.

[31] The Metropolitan Playhouse, a New York resident theater dedicated to exploring and re-vitalizing American literature and culture, staged Inheritors in 2005; the production was directed by Yvonne Opffer Conybeare.

[33] The San Diego State University School of Theatre, Television, and Film staged two one-act plays by Susan Glaspell in September and October 2018, Trifles (1916) and Woman's Honor (1918) in a production directed by faculty member Randy Reinholz.