Hester Eisenstein examines liberal, radical, socialist, and psychoanalytic feminisms, alongside questions of labour, reproduction, sexuality, race, and the state.

Contemporary Feminist Thought offers a clear, rigorous map of feminist theory as it developed in the late twentieth century, tracing the major debates, tensions, and intellectual lineages that shaped modern feminism. 

Rather than presenting feminism as a unified movement, Eisenstein foregrounds disagreement and fracture—showing how feminist theory has been shaped by political struggle, institutional pressures, and competing visions of liberation. The result is a grounded, historically aware introduction that treats feminist thought as a living, contested field rather than a settled doctrine.

A concise and still-useful text for readers interested in feminist theory, political history, and the conditions under which ideas become movements.