Feminism, Sexuality, and Politics »

Estelle B. Freedman is Edgar E. Robinson Professor in U.S. History at Stanford University. She is author, coauthor, or coeditor of six books, including No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women, Maternal Justice: Miriam Van Waters and the Female Reform Tradition, and Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America.

One of a small group of feminist pioneers in the historical profession, Freedman in the past thirty years has produced a body of work in which scholarship and politics have never been mutually exclusive. This collection brings together eleven essays--eight previously published and three new--that document the evolving relationship between academic feminism and political feminism as Freedman has studied and lived it. Underlying the collection is an inquiry into the changing meanings of gender, sexuality, and politics during the 19th and 20th centuries along with a concern for applying the insights of women's history broadly, from the classroom to the courthouse.