Betty Friedan: Magnificent Disruptor

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 ...