Joanna Russ: When Sci-Fi Changed

I’m not much of a connoisseur of science fiction, feminist or otherwise. But in the flush of the Second Wave, I read two feminist sci-fi stories that have always stuck with me: Ursula K. LeGuin‘s “Sur,” which appeared in The New Yorker in 1982, and Joanna Russ’s “When It Changed.” The former imagines a secret [...]

Not Your Mama’s Memoir

Popular mothering memoirs seem to fall into one of two categories. Either they subscribe to the humorous approach, in which the author focuses on the bodily functions, hormones and general hilarity of pregnancy and child-rearing, or they’re the heartfelt, saccharine, love-fest memoir (and yes, Jenny McCarthy has written books in both flavors). Refreshingly, Bring Down [...]

Exploring Balkan Myths and Realities in “The Tiger’s Wife”

My understanding of the Soviet Union and its satellite countries began with the nation’s dissolution. The summer I turned seven, I watched on TV athletes from across the globe compete in the 1992 Summer Olympic Games. I remember my mother pointing out the Unified Team–the banner under which most former Soviet Republics competed in 1992–as [...]

“20 Under 40″ Highlights Great Women Writers

Each writer featured in 20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker represents a unique strand of what the future holds for American fiction, but as their characters ran through the post-Emancipation American South and stumbled through futuristic Rome, nearly every author examined loneliness. Similar to Freedom’s female protagonist, Patty, many of the women described throughout 20 Under 40 faced anxious isolation in the face of limitless options.

“Hands on the Freedom Plow”: A Love Song to Ella Baker

Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC provides a much-needed antidote to the male-dominated history of the Civil Rights Movement. It also negates the claim – made by many a historian, citing only Stokely Carmichael’s admittedly priggish comment, “The position of women in SNCC is prone” – that the organization was particularly sexist.

U.S. Woman Writes From Inside Iran’s Most Notorious Prison

Memoirs by political prisoners shed light on a world unknown to most of us–a world of forced confession, threats and psychological torture. American journalist Roxana Saberi’s new “Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran”, an account of 100 days in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, serves as a small window into the closed world [...]

Dare to Read a Banned Book Today!

September 25th through October 2nd is the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week, showcasing those dangerous tomes that might warp the minds of young and old alike! Perhaps they touch on–lower your voice–sex. Or sexism. Or racism. Or on progressive politics. Perhaps they’re anti-war! In any case, someone or some group has either challenged these [...]

The Makings of the Modern Heroine: Truong’s Bitter in the Mouth

Like so many outsiders, Linda(mint) Hammerick is a synesthete. Unlike Vladimir Nabokov, who, as Linda discovers, saw color in letters and sounds, or Wassily Kadinsky, whose paintings evoke the colors he heard in music, Linda tastes words as she hears and speaks. Linda is the heroine of Bitter in the Mouth, the new novel by [...]

Book Review: In Our (Birth) Control

Laura Eldridge’s new book In Our Control: The Complete Guide to Contraceptive Choices for Women (Seven Stories Press, 2010) isn’t kidding with that subtitle. The last time I remember reading so much detail about contraceptive options was poring over Our Bodies, Ourselves when I was in my 20s. Eldridge reviews every method of birth control [...]

Bad Shoes and the Author Who Takes Them On

It happened in Milan at a 2008 Prada fashion show.  “I was having a panic attack, my hands were shaking,” a runway model recalls.  “Some of the girls were crying backstage, they were so scared.”  Why the dramatics—An Act of terrorism?  An explosion? Had the prime minister been assassinated? No. These women were fearful of [...]

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