Betty Friedan : Magnificent Disrupter

A new portrait of Betty Friedan, the author and activist acclaimed as the mother of second-wave feminism A� �_oA lucid portrait of Friedan as a bold yet flawed advocate for women�_Ts equality.�__�_"Publishers Weekly A� 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�_Ts papers and on interviews with family, colleagues, and friends to create a nuanced portrait. A� Friedan, born Bettye Naomi Goldstein, chafed at society�_Ts 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. A� Using her influence, Friedan cofounded the National Organization for Women, the National Women�_Ts 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�_Ts liberation movement over �_osexual politics.�__ Her volatility and public conflicts fractured key relationships. A� Shteir considers how Friedan�_Ts Judaism was essential to her feminism, presenting a new Friedan for a new era.