Red Valkyries explores the history of socialist feminism in Eastern Europe, following the lives and careers of five prominent women active in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: the aristocratic Bolshevik Alexandra Kollontai; the radical pedagogue Nadezhda Krupskaya; the polyamorous firebrand Inessa Armand; the deadly sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko; and the partisan turned scientist turned global women’s activist Elena Lagadinova.

In brief conversational chapters, Kristen Ghodsee renders the big ideas of socialist feminism accessible to those newly inspired by the emancipatory politics of insurgent left feminist movements around the globe.