Feminism in Our Time: The Essential Writings, World War II to the Present

A sampler of feminist writings that focuses on the 1960s and '70s, this volume begins with a selection from Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949) and then jumps rather abruptly to 1962 and Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook . Incorporating a diverse range of contributors, from poets (Anne Sexton) to polemicists (Shulamith Firestone), Schneir's selection is lively, inspiring and inclusive--there are excerpts from legal documents , such as the ERA and Justice Blackmun's majority opinion in Roe v. . Wade , and from political statements from activist groups. Schneir's introductions, providing historical context and relevant biographical data, take pains to be diplomatic but also acknowledge disputes. Of antipornography crusader and censorship advocate Andrea Dworkin she writes, ``Her blunt, hard-hitting prose is anything but temperate or judicious.'' There is no sex-positive voice like Susie Bright or Betty Dodson to counterbalance Dworkin, but in anthologizing a heterogeneous movement, omissions are perhaps inevitable. Schneir has assembled not just a political sampler but an anthology of some of this country's best essayists. Her sequel to Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings will undoubtedly find a home on women's studies syllabuses, but it deserves a much broader readership. (July)