Herself an Author addresses the critical question of how to approach the study of women's writing. It explores various methods of engaging in a meaningful way with a rich corpus of poetry and prose written by women of the late Ming and Qing periods, much of it rediscovered by the author in rare book collections in China and the United States. The volume treats different genres of writing and includes translations of texts that are made available for the first time in English. Among the works considered are the life-long poetic record of Gan Lirou, the lyrical travel journal kept by Wang Fengxian, and the erotic poetry of the concubine Shen Cai.Taking the view that gentry women's varied textual production was a form of cultural practice, Grace Fong examines women's autobiographical poetry collections, travel writings, and critical discourse on the subject of women's poetry, offering fresh insights on women's intervention into the dominant male literary tradition. The wealth of texts translated and discussed here include fascinating documents written by concubines - women who occupied a subordinate position in the family and social system.Fong adopts the notion of agency as a theoretical focus to investigate forms of subjectivity and enactments of subject positions in the intersection between textual practice and social inscription. Her reading of the life and work of women writers reveals surprising instances and modes of self-empowerment within the gender constraints of Confucian orthodoxy. Fong argues that literate women in late imperial China used writing and reading to create literary and social communities, transcend temporal-spatial and social limitations, and represent themselves as the authors of their own life histories.

This book details the life and activism of Gloria Steinem, using her life as a lens through which readers can examine the evolution of women's rights in the United States over the past half-century. This work traces the life and career of feminist activist Gloria Steinem, providing an examination of her life and her efforts to further equal opportunity among all people, especially women, in the United States from the second half of the 20th century to the present. It follows Steinem in a primarily chronological fashion to best convey the impact of her own efforts as well as the changing nature of women's status in American society during Steinem's half-century as an active reformer and public figure. The book notably includes her work with Ms. Magazine and details of her personal life. This book's wider coverage of Steinem's life, from her early childhood to the present, adds to previous works, which tend to stop with the end of the heyday of the women's movement and the rise of the Conservative movement in the early 1980s. With one of the defining aspects of Steinem's work being her lifelong commitment to women's rights and human equality, the treatment of her whole life helps readers understand the full extent of both her commitment and impact. More than just a biography, this book presents a life that is at once an engine for the change Gloria Steinem sought to achieve and an example and inspiration for future activists The text offers lessons from the past as guidance for the future 20 sidebars provide intriguing details about Steinem's life and accomplishments Five primary source documents give readers a sense of Steinem's powerful voice and her ability to speak truth to power

Virginia Women is the first of two volumes exploring the history of Virginia women through the lives of exemplary and remarkable individuals. This collection of seventeen essays, written by established and emerging scholars, recovers the stories and voices of a diverse group of women, from the seventeenth century through the Civil War era. Placing their subjects in their larger historical contexts, the authors show how the experiences of Virginia women varied by race, class, age, and marital status, and also across both space and time. Some essays examine the lives of well-known women-such as First Lady Dolley Madison-from a new perspective. Others introduce readers to relatively obscure historical figures: the convicted witch Grace Sherwood; the colonial printer Clementina Rind; Harriet Hemings, the enslaved daughter of Thomas Jefferson. Essays on the frontier heroine Mary Draper Ingles and the Civil War spy Elizabeth Van Lew examine the real women behind the legends. Altogether, the essays in this collection offer readers an engaging and personal window onto the experiences of women in the Old Dominion.

"Lure of the Trade Winds: Two Women Sailing the Pacific Ocean" transports readers to a place where few have gone before: aboard a thirty-four-foot boat, cruising the Pacific Ocean. Join author Jeannine Talley, as she and her sailing partner, Joy Smith, embark on the journey of a lifetime.

Each day is a new adventure aboard the Banshee. Talley and her partner are stranded on a reef in Vanuatu, contract malaria, rescue a wrecked boat, visit a skull site in the Solomon Islands, and journey to remote islands whose inhabitants still bear the scars of a brutal colonial past. When their electronic navigational equipment is lost in a storm, they must use sextant navigation, depending entirely on sun sights, to make a long passage north from the South Pacifi c to Micronesia.

In "Lure of the Trade Winds," the two women travel to some of the most remote areas of the world and interact with the inhabitants within their social settings. They unravel some of the world's mysteries, plunge into the unknown, and come face to face with some of the darker aspects of legacy of colonialism. The tale of their travels proves once again that the spirit of adventure knows no bounds.

The list of gross human rights violations against women is endless wordwide. Human rights that exclude or discriminate women are explicitly inhuman!

Women in Power profiles 22 world leaders who have held the top positions of political power since 1960. Each chapter is devoted to a region of the world. In addition to providing an overview of the political careers of the women who emerged as leaders in these regions, the authors examine the political systems of each region in terms of the involvement of women in politics. Biographies of these political leaders are embedded within regional analyses that reveal not only the personal circumstances that each woman faced in her quest for power but also the political milieu from which she emerged. We learn about the obstacles as well as the advantages these women faced, and we derive insights into the structures that exist in our own societies regarding the power relations between men and women. Women in Power also devotes a chapter to differing theories of women's leadership and various theories of feminism around the world. Finally, in an effort to understand how the United States can appear to be the bastion of women's liberation around the world and yet have only 15 percent representation of women in power and no female president to date, the authors explore prospects for the upcoming 2008 U.S. presidential election and discuss potential candidates.

All women's magazines are not the same: content, outlook, and format combine to shape publications quite distinctively. While magazines in general have long been understood as a significant force in women's lives, many critiques have limited themselves to discussions of mainstream printed publications that engage with narrowly stereotypical representations of femininity. Looking at a range of women's magazines ("Cooperative Correspondence Club "and "Housewife) "and magazine programmes ("Woman's Hour" and "Houseparty"), "Magazine Movements" not only extends our definition of a magazine, but most importantly, unearths the connections between women's cultures, specific magazines and the implied reader. The author first outlines the existing field of magazine studies, and analyzes the methodologies employed in accessing and assessing the cultural competence of magazines. Each chapter then provides a case study of a different kind of magazine: different in media form or style of presentation or audience connection, or all three. Forster not only extends our definition of a magazine, but most importantly, unearths the connections between women's cultures, specific magazines and the implied reader. In this way, fresh insights are provided into the long-standing importance of the magazine to the variety of feminisms on offer in Britain, from the mid twentieth century to the present day.

This book explores how women of the poorer and middling sorts in early modern England sought to make the best of their lives in a society that excluded or marginalized them in almost every sphere. It argues that networks of close friends ('gossips') provided invaluable moral and practical support, helping them to shape their own lives and to play an active role in the affairs of the local community.

"My Roots, My Love, My Destiny"is the story of two strong women, told across an epic and rich canvas painted by two wars and two unique destinies. In her ninety-six years, Ogeri, author Beatrice Akpu Inyang Eleje's mother, experienced danger, heartbreak, and great love. Her journey spanned most of the twentieth century and was dictated by the societal norms, values, and traditions of the Nigeria of her time. Lovingly reconstructed, these are a few of Eleje's most beloved and revered memories of her mother. For the daughter, her journey was spent attempting to navigate rapidly changing waters. Caught between two colliding civilizations-the Western civilization and African culture and Nigeria-two cultures, and two world views, her path was less certain. While one world encouraged independence, the other demanded absolute filial obedience.

Rebellion was inevitable.

As Eleje listened to her mother speak of her life, the similarities emerged. Both women survived their husbands, and both knew the heartache of illness, loss, and uncertainty-as well as the joys of love in the most unexpected places. But through it all rings a life-sustaining truth worth celebrating: no matter how dark the tunnel, there is always light just around the corner ... if you can just lift your head to look.

Designed to inspire younger women to persevere in the face of seemingly in-surmountable odds, the story of these two women proves that no matter what, you just need to take the next step-to-ward hope.

Born in a dysfunctional lower middle class family in the middle of the "big" depression, no one could have predicted that Jinx Beers would be a pioneer for the lesbian/gay rights movement in Southern California and the founder of the world's longest running lesbian nespaper. Jinx, who acquired the first name from an older sister and eventually made it legal, joined the U.S. Air Force when she was eighteen to get away from her home life-and never looked back. She used her G.I. Bill to get a college degree and spent the next eighteen years on the UCLA campus in research in traffic safety. Meanwhile, the action on Christopher Street raised the conscience of many lesbians and gays who began to join the agitation for lesbian/gay rights. Ferment in the Losa Angeles community lead to Jinx's founding of The Lesbian News in 1976. Although she is no longer associated with the newspaper, it has been published continuously for more than thirty years. Now seventy-five years old, Jinx has written her autobiography. This is the inside informtion on what makes this "Feminist Who Changed America" tick. For those who are interested in understanding one lesbian activist's life, read on.

American Hybrid Poetics explores the ways in which hybrid poetics-a playful mixing of disparate formal and aesthetic strategies-have been the driving force in the work of a historically and culturally diverse group of women poets who are part of a robust tradition in contesting the dominant cultural order. Amy Moorman Robbins examines the ways in which five poets-Gertrude Stein, Laura Mullen, Alice Notley, Harryette Mullen, and Claudia Rankine-use hybridity as an implicitly political strategy to interrupt mainstream American language, literary genres, and visual culture, and expose the ways in which mass culture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has had a powerfully standardizing impact on the collective American imagination. By forcing encounters between incompatible traditions-consumer culture with the avant-garde, low culture forms with experimental poetics, prose poetry with linguistic subversiveness-these poets bring together radically competing ideologies and highlight their implications for lived experience. Robbins argues that it is precisely because these poets have mixed forms that their work has gone largely unnoticed by leading members and critics in experimental poetry circles. Robbins shows that while these poets employ widely varying linguistic strategies and topical range, they share a common and deeply critical vision of American popular culture as it promulgates bourgeois capitalist and imperialist values and forecloses possibilities for independent thought and creative resistance. They also share the view that contemporary history can be reimagined in intellectually liberating ways through hybrid poetics.

"A true story of corruption and abuse of power on a grand scale at the top of one of America's most important industries, and one that is under the microscope with HEALTHCARE REFORM currently in active discussion." "Every businesswoman, every entrepreneur and small business owner in the country should hear this story, whether or not they are connected to the healthcare industry." Although this is nonfiction book, it has many of the elements of a compelling novel (e.g. sex, gore, villainous CEOs, the CIA and conspiracies.) The most fascinating part is that the story isn't over yet, and is still unfolding as you read. Stay tuned!

Hair, Headwear, and Orthodox Jewish Women comments on hair covering based on an ethnographic study of the lives of Orthodox Jewish women in a small non-metropolitan synagogue. It brings the often overlooked stories of these women to the forefront and probes questions as to how their location in a small community affects their behavioral choices, particularly regarding the folk practice of hair covering. A kallah, or bride, makes the decision as to whether or not she will cover her hair after marriage. In doing so, she externally announces her religious affiliation, in particular her commitment to maintaining an Orthodox Jewish home. Hair covering practices are also unique to women's traditions and point out the importance of examining the women, especially because their cultural roles may be marginalized in studies as a result of their lack of a central role in worship. This study questions their contribution to Orthodoxy as well as their concept of Jewish identity and the ways in which they negotiate this identity with ritualized and traditional behavior, ultimately bringing into question the meaning of tradition in a modern world.

At age eight Marilyn Harlin already knew she wanted to be a scientist. Throughout the peaks and valleys in her life-including widowhood when her husband fell off a mountain in Switzerland, and the challenges of raising two children on her own--she kept her eyes on her goal and eventually joined the faculty at the University of Rhode Island as its only female botany professor. Marilyn's mission in her career and into retirement has been to inspire youth, especially girls, to venture into the sciences. Making Waves is a memoir of a progressive life lived with passion.

Described by David Lodge as "the most gifted and innovative writer of her generation," Muriel Spark had a literary career that spanned from the late 1940s until her death in 2006, and included poems, stories, plays, essays, and, most notably, novels. The extensive bibliography of her works included in this collection reveals the astonishing output of a powerful and sustained creative spirit. Hidden Possibilities gathers a distinguished group of writers from both sides of the Atlantic to offer an informed overview of Muriel Spark's life and work. Critics have often read Spark in a somewhat narrow context-as a Catholic, a woman, or a Scottish writer. The essays in this volume, while making connections between these contexts, cumulatively situate her in a broader European tradition. The volume includes interviews with Spark that cast light both on the course of her professional life and on her notably distinctive personality. Contributors: Regina Barreca, Gerard Carruthers, Barbara Epler, John Glavin, Dan Gunn, Robert E. Hosmer Jr., Joseph Hynes, Gabriel Josipovici, Frank Kermode, John Lanchester, Doris Lessing, David Malcolm, John Mortimer, Alan Taylor, and John Updike.

Given the extensive body of Holocaust literature, it may be surprising to note that there is a distinct gap of reflection, analysis, and qualification in the area of sexual violence. The subject of sexual violence during the Holocaust, in particular, the sexual violation of Jewish women, is a subject that has been largely repressed and silenced. Thus, this thesis is an attempt to not only rectify the omission of sexual violence from Holocaust history, but to bring a level of analysis to this under-examined aspect of National Socialism to a point commensurate with that devoted to other aspects of Holocaust studies. During the Holocaust, sexual violence against Jewish women was both unique and typical. It was typical in the forms that sexual violence manifested-sexual humiliation, rape, gang rape, sexual slavery-but unique in the patterns it followed and the functions it served for the Nazi regime. Unlike other genocides, sexual violence was not a state sanctioned policy of the "Final Solution;" it was employed in a haphazardly manner, that was horrific, multi-faceted, and deadly. Perpetrators were motivated by a diversity of factors, including, a desire for power, camaraderie, sexual pleasure and masculine ego-gratification. Moreover, sexual violence was multi-functional for the Nazi regime, operating as a powerful tool of humiliation and dehumanization. As the Nazi regime moved into full-scale genocide, sexual violence became an increasingly integral component to the process of annihilation. By dehumanizing Jewish women through varied forms of sexual violence, German perpetrators increasingly saw their victims as less than human, thereby further removing them from the realm of moral and ethical obligation. Sexual violence was clearly an essential component to the continued functioning of genocide, because through the process of Jewish women's dehumanization, perpetrators were able to more easily continue fulfilling their murderous tasks

Religion and Sexuality in Zimbabwe highlights the complex interplay between religion and sexuality in Zimbabwe. It shows how religion both facilitates and complicates the expression of sexuality in Zimbabwe. Approaching religion from a broader perspective, this volume reviews the impact of African Indigenous Religions and Christianity in its varied forms on the construction and expression of sexuality in Zimbabwe. These contributors examine the role of indigenous beliefs, as well as interpretations of sacred texts, in the understanding of sexuality in Zimbabwe. They also address themes relating to sexual diversity and sexual and gender-based violence. Overall, this book sheds light on the ongoing relevance and strategic role of religion to contemporary discourses on human sexuality.

In writing letters to her children, Catherine has, with rawness and honesty, imparted the tale of a mother and a woman as she journeys through a difficult part of being a single mom striving to raise her children with integrity and hope. The telling of this part of her life is intended to bring to the foreground the importance of understanding the past, the importance of forgiving, and the importance of continuing to learn about self. It is a tale told with depth and with love.

The Parlour and the Suburb challenges stereotypes about domesticity with a reevaluation of women's roles in the 'private' sphere. Classic accounts of modernity have generally ignored or marginalized women, relegating them to the private sphere of home, sexuality and personal relationships. This private sphere has been understood as a gendered space in which a non-modern femininity is opposed to the masculine world of politics, economics, urban life and the workplace. The author argues, however, that home and private life have been crucial spaces in which the interrelations of class and gender have been significant in the formation of modern feminine subjectivitiesFocusing on the first half of the twentieth century, The Parlour and the Suburb examines how women experienced and understood the home and private life in light of modernity. It explores the identities and self-definitions that domesticity inscribed and shows how these were central to women's sense of themselves as 'modern' individuals. The book draws on a range of cultural texts and practices to explore aspects of domestic modernity that have received little attention in most accounts of modern subjectivities. Topics covered include suburbia, consumption practices, domestic service and the wartime figure of the housewife. Texts examined include a range of women's magazines, George Orwell's Coming up for Air, Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, BBC Home Service's 'Help for Housewives' and oral history narratives. 'In this persuasively argued book Giles discusses the highly gendered nature of the concept of modernity which has, to date, marginalized the domestic space and women's traditional role as 'homemakers'.'Stephanie Spencer, Literature & History