Janet Biehl



Janet Biehl (1953 - ) is one of the premier authors on social ecology. In 1986 she attended the Institute for Social Ecology and there began a collaborative relationship with Murray Bookchin, working intensively with him over the next two decades in the further formulation, definition, and explication of the ideas for which he is world-renowned.

From 1987 to 2000 they published and co-authored Green Perspectives, later renamed Left Green Perspectives, a newsletter distributed to the social ecology community.

She wrote and edited numerous books and articles that interpret and advocate the ideas of libertarian municipalism, social ecology and eco-feminism, and to this day they remain a strong influence on the movement. Her book The Politics of Social Ecology summarizes Bookchin's ideas on face-to-face democracy. Bookchin himself considered The Murray Bookchin Reader, which she compiled and edited, to be the best introduction to his work.

In 2001 she retired from political activity to care for Bookchin in his old age. Since his death in July 2006 she has been working on a graphic memoir about their life together.

Selected works

 * Finding our Way. Rethinking Ecofeminist Politics (1991) ISBN 0-921689-78-0
 * Ecofascism: Lessons from the German Experience (1996) ISBN 1-873176-73-2
 * The Politics of Social Ecology: Libertarian Municipalism (1997) ISBN 1-55164-100-3
 * The Murray Bookchin Reader (1997) ISBN 0-304-33874-5