Kara Jesel­la received a BA in Women’s Stud­ies, authored a cul­tur­al his­to­ry pub­lished by Far­rar, Straus and Giroux, and wrote for The New York Times, Ms., and else­where, before pur­su­ing her PhD. Dis­mayed by anti­semitism among fel­low fem­i­nist schol­ars, she decid­ed to write about it. She lives in Man­hat­tan with her hus­band and daugh­ter and is active at her synagogue.