Jean Bethke Elshtain

Biographical Information

Jean Bethke Elshtain was born in the irrigated farm country of northern Colorado and grew up in the small village of Timnath, CO (pop. 185). A graduate of Colorado State Univesrity in 1963, Elshtain went on to earn a Master's degree in history as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow before turning to the study of politics. She received her Ph.D. from Brandeis University in Politics in 1973 and joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In 1988 she joined the faculty at Vanderbilt University as the first woman to hold an endowed professorship at that institution. She was appointed to her current position at the University of Chicago in 1995. Elshtain received the Honorary Degrees, Doctor of Law, from Gonzaga University in 1996, and Doctor of Humane Letters from Valparaiso Unviersity in 1996.

Elshtain has been a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University; a Scholar in Residence at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Conference and Study Center in Como, Italy; a Guggenheim Fellow (1991-92); and a writer in residence at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. She is the recipient of the Ellen Gregg Ingalls Award for excellence in classroom teaching -- the highest award for undergraduate teaching at Vanderbilt University. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, and is on the Board of Trustees of the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. In Spring of 1996 she waas elected a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Elshtain also currently serves as Chair of The Council on Families in America, The National Commission for Civic Renewal, and is Chair of The Council on Civil Society. She has been selected a Phi Beta Kappa Scholar for 1997-98.

Bibliography

BOOKS:

The King Is Dead. New York: Basic Books, 1998.

Political Mothers. New York: Basic Books, 1998.

New Wine and Old Bottles. International Politics at the Millenium. University of Notre Dame Press, 1997.

Real Politics: Politics and Everyday Life. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1997.

Augustine and the Limits of Politics. University of Notre Dame Press, 1996.

Democracy on Trial. New York: Basic Book, 1995.

But Was It Just?: Reflections on the Morality of the Persian Gulf War. (with Stanley Hauerwas) New York: Doubleday, 1992.

Power Trips and Other Journeys: Essays in Feminism As Civic Discourse. Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1990.

Women and War. Basic Books, 1987.

Meditations on Modern Political Thought: Masculine-Feminine Themes from Luther to Arendt. Praeger, 1986.

Public Man, Private Woman: Women in Social and Political Thought. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1981.

EDITED BOOKS:

Promises to Keep: Decline and Renewal of Marriage in America. Rowman and Littlefield, 1996.

Politics and the Human Body: Assault on Dignity. (with Timothy J. Lloyd) Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1995.

Just War Theory. New York: Basil Blackwell, 1990.

Rebuilding the Nest: A New Commitment to the American Family. Milwaukee: Family Services Publication, 1990.

Women, Militarism, and War: Essays in History, Politics, and Social Theory. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 1990.

The Family in Political Thought. University of Massachusetts Press, 1982.

ARTICLES

Note: Jean Bethke Elshtain is the author of over 200 essays in scholarly journals and journals of civic opinion, and 175 book reviews. In addition, she writes a regular column for The New Republic. Due to the vastness of her publication list, only essays which deal directly with feminist theory have been listed here. For a complete list of Elshtain's articles, please contact the website editor.

ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN PROFESSIONAL JOURNALS AND BOOKS

"Women, War, Peace and Foreign Relations," in Encyclopedia of U.S. Foreign Relations. Ed. B. Jentleson and T. Paterson. (vol. 4) (Oxford Univ. Press, 1997), pp. 330-331.

"Women and War," in The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern War. Ed. Charles Townsend. (Oxford Univ. Press, 1997), pp. 264-278.

"The Mothers of the Disappeared: An Encounter with Antigone's Daughters," in Finding a New Feminism. Ed. Pamela Grande Jensen. (Roman and Littlefield, 1996), pp. 129-148.

"Thinking about Women, Christianity, and Rights," in Religious Human Rights in Global Perspecitive. Ed. John Witte, Jr. (Martinus Nijhoff, 1996), pp. 143-155.

"Feminism and War," in An Encyclopedia of War and Ethics. Ed. Donald A. Wells. (Greenwood pub., 1996), pp. 137-138.

"Is There a Feminist Tradition on War and Peace?" in The Ethics of War and Peace. Ed. Terry Nardin. (Princeton Univ. Press, 1996), pp. 214-227.

"Woman Suffrage and the Gender Gap," in Votes for Women. Ed. Marjorie Spriull Wheeler. (Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1995), pp. 129-146.

"Exploring Feminism," in Neither Victim Nor Enemy. Ed. Rita Simon. (University Press of America, 1995), pp. 173-189.

"Political Children," in Feminist Interpretations of Hannah Arendt. Ed. Bonnie Honig. (Penn State Univ. Press, 1995), pp. 263-284.

"Feminism and the Crisis of Contemporary Culture," in History and the Idea of Progress. Ed. A. Melzer, J. Weinberger, and M.R. Zinman. (Cornell Univ. Press, 1995), pp. 196-210.

"Exporting Feminism." Journal of International Affairs 48 ( ): 541-558.

"Feminist Themes and International Relations," in International Theory: Critical Investigations. Ed. James DerDerian. (MacMillan, 1995), pp. 340-361.

"Thinking About Women and International Violence," in Women, Gender, and World Politics. Ed. Peter R. Beckman and Francine D'Amico. (Begin and harvey Pub., 1994), pp. 109-119.

"Ethics in the Women's Movement," in Different Roles, Different Voices. Ed. M. Githens, P. Norris, J. Lovendieski. (Harper Collins, 1994), pp. 233-244.

"The Mothers of the Disappeared: Passion and Protest in Maternal Action," in Representations of Motherhood. Ed. Donna Bassin, Margaret Honey, and Meryle Mohrer Kaplan. (Yale Univ. Press, 1994), pp 75-92.

"Feminism and Politics." Partisan Review LVII (1990): 181-192.

"Antigone's Daughters Reconsidered: Continuing Reflections of Women, Politics and Power," in Life World and Politics. Ed. S. White. (Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 1989), pp. 222-236.

"The Family, Democratic Politics and the Question of Authority," in Children, Parents, and Politics. Ed. G. Scarre. (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1989), pp. 55-71.

"Arendt's French Revolution." Salmagundi No. 84 (Fall 1989): 203-213.

"The New Eugenics and Feminist Quandaries." Lutheran Forum 23 (1989): 20-30.

"A Return to Hull House: Reflections on Jane Addams." Cross Currents XXXVIII (1988): 257-267.

"The Family Crisis, the Family Wage and Feminism," in The FAmily Wage: Work, Gender, and Children in the Modern Polity. Ed. Carlson, Vinovskis, Vedder, and Elshtain. (Family in America Research Series, 1988).

"On Victims and Blaming." Salmagundi No. 80 (Fall 1988): 177-185.

"Reflections on Child Abuse," in Urban Social and Educational Issues. Ed. L. Golubchuck and B. Persky. (Avery Pub., 1988), pp. 94-100.

"The Power and Powerlessness of Women," in The Gender of Power. Ed. Monique Leijenaar, et.al. (Vakgroep Vrouwenstudies FWS, 1988), pp. 78-98.

"Feminist Political Rhetoric and Women's Studies," in The Rhetoric of the Human Sciences. Ed. Nelson, Megill, and McClosky. (Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1987), pp. 319-340.

"Eleanor Roosevelt as Activist and Thinker." Halcyon: A Journal of the Humanities. (1986): 93-114.

"The New Feminist Scholarship." Salmagundi (Spr-Sum 1986): 3-26.

"Critical Reflections on Realism, Just War and Feminism in a Nuclear Age," in Nuclear Weapons and the Future of Humanity: The Fundamental Questions. Ed. Avner Cohen and Steven Lee. (Rowman and Allanheld, 1986), pp. 255-272.

"The Liberal Captivity of Feminism: A Critical Appraisal of (Some) Feminist Answers," in The Liberal Future in America. Essays in Retrieval. Ed. Philip Abbott and Michael B. Levy. (Greenwood Press, 1985), pp. 63-84.

"Reflections on War and Political Discourse: Realism, Just Wars and Feminism in a Nuclear Age." Political Theory 13 (Feb 1985): 39-57.

"Symmetry and Soporifics: A Critique of (Some) Feminist Accounts of Gender Development," in Capitalism and Infancy: Essays on Psychanalysis and Politics. Ed. Barry Richards. (FAB Pub., 1984), pp. 55-91.

"Toward a Reflective Feminist Theory." Women and Politics 3 (Win 1983): 7-26.

"The Vexation of Simone Weil." Telos No. 58 (Win 1983-1984): 195-203.

"Women as Mirror and Other: Toward a Theory of Women, War and Feminism." Humanities in Society 5 (Win-Spr 1982): 29-44.

"Beautiful Souls and Just Warriors." Women's Studies International Forum 5 (1982): 341-348.

"Feminist Discourse and Its Discontents: Language, Meaning, and Power." Signs 7 (Spr 1982): 603-621.

"A Feminist Agenda on Reproductive Technology." Hastings Center Report 12 (Feb 1982): 40-43.

"Doris Lessing: Language and Politics." Salmagundi No. 47-48 (Win-Spr 1980): 95-114.

"Methodological Sophistication and Conceptual Confusion: A Critique of Mainstream Political Science on Women, Politics, and Values," in The Prism of Sex: Towards an Equitable Pursuit of Knowledge. Ed. J. Sherman and E. Beck. (Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1980), pp. 229-252.

"Liberal Heresies: Existentialism and Repressive Feminism," in Liberalism and Modern Polity. Ed. Michal J. Gargas McGrath. (Marcel Dekker, 1978), pp. 33-62.

"'Thank Heaven for Little Girls': The Dialectics of Development." Politics X (Nov 1976): 139-148.

"The Feminist Movement and the Question of Equality." Polity VII (Sum 1975): 452-477.

"Moral Woman / Immoral Man: the Public / Private Split and its Political Ramifications." Politics and Society 4 (1974): 453-473.

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