February 5, 2001
Pollitt professes to find the cover of this collection of her Nation columns "pretty"; her readers might find it misleading, since the eye on the cover is in sweet soft-focus, while Pollitt's own eye is steely, uncompromising and sharp. In these 88 brief essays, she brilliantly shears away the rhetorical cotton wool that obscures the serious implications of many hot social and political issues of contemporary America abortion, welfare reform, affirmative action, school vouchers, gun rights and control. Unfailingly feminist in her analysis, she is never tendentious and always witty. Nor is she reluctant to turn her gaze close to home, to the gap between the Nation's high-minded principles and its largely lily-white editorial offices, for example, in her discussion of various liberal hypocrisies. Her newly written introduction calls upon feminists at the millennium to kick-start the "stalled revolution" with renewed demands for change that, she says, would further social justice, and themselves transform those who articulate them. If there is anything to regret in this collection, it is that columns written seven years ago remain fresh today, so little progress having been made toward resolving the issues they raise. (Apr.) Forecast: This attractively packaged and affordable collection should prove popular among those whose spirits have been depressed by recent political events and prospects of future recession.
February 1, 2001
The essays in this collection were originally published in the author's column of the same name in the Nation from 1994 to fall 2000 and follow an earlier collection, Reasonable Creatures: Essays on Women and Feminism. With incisiveness and wit, her spirited essays address contemporary political and social issues, including abortion rights, racism, welfare reform, feminism, and poverty. Pollitt's lively commentaries on the contemporary American scene and the women's movement and her unwavering promotion of social justice will make a refreshing addition to most public libraries and academic collections in journalism and women's studies. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/00.]--Patricia A. Beaber, Coll. of New Jersey Lib., Ewing
Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from February 1, 2001
Readers of the " Nation" depend on their Pollitt fix to stay sane, eagerly reading her zestfully argued, blazingly commonsensical (what a shock good clear thinking can be), and morally precise columns. A master stylist as well as a passionate champion of social justice, Pollitt introduces this powerhouse collection of more than 80 essays spanning the years 1994 through mid-2000 with a bracing overview of the state of feminism and feminism's role in the state, observing that feminism is not a monolithic force, or "plot," but rather a growing resistance against misogyny and the status of second-class citizenry for women by both genders. Adept at picking out the hypocrisy from the rhetoric and intent on voicing sharp, lacerating truths about society, she never misses an opportunity for wit, and her range is extraordinary. Here are incisive and exhilarating essays on women at work, domestic violence, dead-beat dads, panhandlers, school prayer, same-sex marriage, Larry Flynt, and the movie " Titanic" as "romantic feminism." Every beautifully executed piece is a touchdown, and no silly dances follow.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)
October 1, 2000
Columns from the Nation.
Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.