In "Secret Ingredients," acclaimed author Sherrie A. Inness exposes how women have used recipes and cooking to challenge the status quo. Hiding within seemingly ordinary cookbooks are revolutionary messages from women about social and cultural norms. Surprising but true, something as mundane as a cookbook can contain subtle and not-so-subtle protests against traditional and accepted viewpoints. Exploring cookbooks including 1950s convenience food, 1970s natural food, 1980s "white trash" cuisine, and the surprise success of the Two Fat Ladies books from the 1990s, Inness reveals recipes for social change in Mom's pot roast and even mini-marshmallow Jell-O salad. She shows that cookbooks are rich and complex, and reveal more than they seem to about women's evolving role in society." Secret Ingredients" uncovers how modern cookbooks continue to be a valuable tool for understanding the ways race, class, ethnicity, and gender intersect in the United States.

Xena, Buffy, Lara Croft. WWF, The Sopranos, Witchblade, La Femme Nikita. The women of pop culture are center stage and as tough as ever. Action Chicks is a groundbreaking collection highlighting the heroines we've grown to worship. What can they tell us about women in 2003? What can they tell us about how popular culture depicts women? Do the characters escape traditional gender role expectations? Or do they adhere to sexual, racial, ethnic, and class stereotypes? The essays in Action Chicks provide fans with a new look at their favorite icons and their relationship to the popular media machine. A fascinating collection that's bound to stir up some excitement.

Using popular culture as a fertile environment for challenging the stereotype that the most brilliant geeks or nerds must be men, the essays in this book demonstrate how the popular media repeatedly affirms stereotypes of femininity while paradoxically challenging the stigmatization of smart women. Contributors salute a wide range of popular characters and real female role models, from Daria to Hillary Rodham Clinton, weaving in references to television shows like Gilmore Girls and analyses of classic icons like Sabrina.

Mainstream society has often had a deeply rooted fear of intelligent women. Why do brilliant women make society ill at ease? Focusing on the US, Sherrie Inness and contributors explore this question in the context of the last two decades, arguing that more intelligent women are appearing in popular culture than ever before. Using popular culture as a fertile environment for challenging the stereotype that the most brilliant geeks or nerds must be men, the essayists in this book demonstrate how the popular media both repeatedly affirms stereotypes of femininity, while paradoxically challenging the stigmatization of smart women.

Xena, Buffy, Lara Croft. WWF, The Sopranos, Witchblade, La Femme Nikita. The women of pop culture are center stage and as tough as ever. Action Chicks is a groundbreaking collection highlighting the heroines we've grown to worship. What can they tell us about women in 2003? What can they tell us about how popular culture depicts women? Do the characters escape traditional gender role expectations? Or do they adhere to sexual, racial, ethnic, and class stereotypes? The essays in Action Chicks provide fans with a new look at their favorite icons and their relationship to the popular media machine. A fascinating collection that's bound to stir up some excitement.

A series of fascinating chapters analyze cookery books through the ages. From the convenience-food cookbooks of the 1950s, to the 1980s rise in 'white trash' cookbooks, and the surprise success of the Two Fat Ladies books from the 1990s, leading author Sherrie Inness discusses how women have used such books over the years to protest social norms.