Emma Goldman has often been read for her colorful life story, her lively
if troubled sex life, and her wide-ranging political activism. Few have
taken her seriously as a political thinker, even though in her lifetime
she was a vigorous public intellectual within a global network of
progressive politics. Engaging Goldman as a political thinker allows us
to rethink the common dualism between theory and practice, scrutinize
stereotypes of anarchism by placing Goldman within a fuller historical
context, recognize the remarkable contributions of anarchism in creating
public life, and open up contemporary politics to the possibilities of
transformative feminism.