Finalist, 2019 PROSE Award in Biography, given by the Association of American Publishers
Fifty years after the start of the women’s liberation movement, a book that at last illuminates the profound impact Jewishness and second-wave feminism had on each other
Jewish women were undeniably instrumental in shaping the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Yet historians and participants themselves have overlooked their contributions as Jews. This has left many vital questions unasked and unanswered—until now. Delving into archival sources and conducting extensive interviews with these fierce pioneers, Joyce Antler has at last broken the silence about the confluence of feminism and Jewish identity.
Antler’s exhilarating new book features dozens of compelling biographical narratives that reveal the struggles and achievements of Jewish radical feminists in Chicago, New York and Boston, as well as those who participated in the later, self-consciously identified Jewish feminist movement that fought gender inequities in Jewish religious and secular life. Disproportionately represented in the movement, Jewish women’s liberationists helped to provide theories and models for radical action that were used throughout the United States and abroad. Their articles and books became classics of the movement and led to new initiatives in academia, politics, and grassroots organizing. Other Jewish-identified feminists brought the women’s movement to the Jewish mainstream and Jewish feminism to the Left. For many of these women, feminism in fact served as a “portal” into Judaism.
Recovering this deeply hidden history, Jewish Radical Feminism places Jewish women’s activism at the center of feminist and Jewish narratives. The stories of over forty women’s liberationists and identified Jewish feminists—from Shulamith Firestone and Susan Brownmiller to Rabbis Laura Geller and Rebecca Alpert—illustrate how women’s liberation and Jewish feminism unfolded over the course of the lives of an extraordinary cohort of women, profoundly influencing the social, political, and religious revolutions of our era.

"From consciousness-raising groups, to health collectives, to militant lesbians and women standing up to religious patriarchy, historianAntlerspends time with the dozens of Jewish personalities of radical feminist movementswomen who challenged the structure of society far beyond the reach of laws." - Lilith

""Jewish women were a major force in second wave feminism in the 1960s and 1970s. [Antler] illuminates this previously underappreciated history and draws clear parallels to forces shaping contemporary political and social movements . . . A critical volume for feminist Jews to understand the past and a useful primary source for historians of feminism and Judaism." - Library Journal

"Jewish Radical Feminism traces the emergence of [womens liberation] collectives, including in Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., and Boston, and the backgrounds of these bold and inspirational women and the influence their Jewish roots played in shaping their lives and views. It also tells a parallel story, that of Jewish women who, beginning in the 1970s, confronted the male-dominated Jewish institutions and transformed them." - The Jewish Journal

"A captivating and timely new book... that brings to light, for the first time, the ways in which feminist trailblazers were influenced by their divergent and often unspoken Jewish backgrounds." - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

"Antler broadens intersectional understandings about the day-to-day workings of the U.S. women’s movement in a period of intense activity and rapid change, and about the lives and thought processes of modern Jewish American women...the book is a remarkable achievement—a thorough and engaging study." - American Historical Review

"Compelling, original, and urgent reexamination of the past . . . ReadingJewish Radical Feminismfeels like witnessing a collective in the making.Those deeply committed to understanding, learning from, and building on the vital social and civil rights movements of the pastwould do well to invest in this captivating history." - Contemporary Jewry

"Its reassuring to learn how these iconic women navigated their own struggles with multiple identities in their own time, and to recognize the tremendous contributions they made, even from outside the mainstream." - Forward

"The most profound reasonJewish Radical Feminismshould be widely read is that it puts many current disputes about gender and Jewish identity into long perspective." - Tablet

"Antler complicates histories of feminist activism by revealing the presence of Jewishness in the backgrounds of dozens of influential radical women." - Studies in Contemporary Jewry

"Displayed over the interior pages are the labeled photographs of forty seminal radical American feminists who advocated for change from both inside and outside the Jewish community...never before has a scholar brought these diverse voices together to explore the impact of Jewishness on these women’s actions and life choices." - Journal of Jewish Identities

"Antler is a first-rate historian. Her work manages to answer the question of Jewish women’s representation and self-understanding in the context of feminist movements without either overgeneralizing or individualizing; the answers were not the same for everyone but neither were they wholly unique to each person. Jewish Radical Feminism collects and tells stories from a feminist movement whose importance continues to affect American Jewish life." - H-Net Reviews