What Women Want: 8

NOW president Ireland here traces her own progress from demure stewardess to successful corporate attorney and national political leader to demonstrate that when women pursue goals-both personally and professionally-they not only attain a vital sense of empowerment but help engender progressive social change. Ireland's sensitivity to the evolution of sex-role expectations reveals the great strides women have made toward equality and the setbacks they continue to face. While her own activist efforts have focused largely on abortion rights and on getting more women elected to public office, she does not insist that all feminists should be concerned most with these issues. Rather, she calls for a feminist politics capable of promoting the various interests, aspirations and beliefs of all women. This eminently readable autobiography, with its account of Ireland's life in the political trenches, will inspire and enlighten activists of all stripes. QPB selection; translation rights: Dutton Signet. (June)