Red Valkyries

Kristen Ghodsee

Language: English

Publisher: Verso Books

Description:

The overlooked revolutionary women of Eastern Europe and their contribution to socialist feminist history, from the author of Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism.
Through a series of lively and accessible biographical essays, Red Valkyries explores the history of socialist feminism by examining the revolutionary careers of five prominent socialist women active in the 19th and 20th centuries.
  Alexandra Kollontai, the aristocratic Bolshevik
  Nadezhda Krupskaya, the radical pedagogue
  Inessa Armand, the polyamorous firebrand
  Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the deadly sniper
  Elena Lagadinova, the partisan turned scientist turned global women's rights activist
None of these women were “perfect” leftists. Their lives were filled with inner conflicts, contradictions, and sometimes outrageous privilege,...