Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Betty Friedan by Rachel Shteir - Available

Betty Friedan

Magnificent Disruptor

by Rachel Shteir
Kim Niemi
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
The feminist writer and activist Betty Friedan (1921–2006), pathbreaking author of The Feminine Mystique, was powerful and polarizing. In this biography, the first in more than twenty years, Rachel Shteir draws on Friedan's papers and on interviews with family, colleagues, and friends to create a nuanced portrait.
Friedan, born Bettye Naomi Goldstein, chafed at society's restrictions from a young age. As a journalist she covered racism, sexism, labor, class inequality, and anti-Semitism. As a wife and mother, she struggled to balance her work and homemaking. Her malaise as a housewife and her research into the feelings of other women resulted in The Feminine Mystique (1963), which made her a celebrity.
Using her influence, Friedan cofounded the National Organization for Women, the National Women's Political Caucus, and the National Association to Repeal Abortion Laws. She fought for the Equal Rights Amendment, universal childcare, and workplace protections for mothers, but she disagreed with the women's liberation movement over "sexual politics."
Shteir considers how Friedan's Judaism was essential to her feminism, presenting a new Friedan for a new era.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Jewish Lives

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    September 26, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9798350866650
      • File size: 316578 KB
      • Duration: 10:59:32

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 12, 2023
      Historian Shteir (The Steal) highlights Betty Friedan’s complex legacy as a tireless and mercurial crusader for feminism in this warts-and-all biography. In 1963, Friedan channeled her unhappy experiences as a daughter and wife into The Feminine Mystique, in which she described the “numbing gendered division of labor at home.” The book’s success helped transform Friedan from a left-wing print journalist into a popular—if controversial—speaker and a cofounder of the National Organization for Women (NOW). At the second NOW Congress in 1969, Friedan clashed with lesbian activists, calling them the “lavender menace” and attempting to distance NOW from their cause. Delving into Friedan’s reasoning, Shteir concludes that a combination of Midwestern prudishness, paranoia (Friedan “contended that the lesbians were CIA plants”), and left-leaning economic theories convinced her that material gains like wage equality, free abortion, and free childcare were paramount for women’s liberation, while “sexual politics” spearheaded by lesbian intellectuals like Kate Millet were a dangerous distraction. Shteir’s comprehensive research includes interviews with Millett and other second-wave feminists, and illuminating deep dives into archives recently made public. The result is a lucid portrait of Friedan as a bold yet flawed advocate for women’s equality.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading