The Word of a Woman: Feminist Dispatches 1968-1992

With a minimum of manipulative rhetoric, well-known feminist Morgan ( The Demon Lover ) takes us on an exhilarating odyssey through the women's movement of the past quarter-century in this selection of essays, meditations, polemics and theoretical articles. Pieces on the first Miss America Pageant protest and on women's rage at male-chauvinist leftists seem a bit dated, but Morgan addresses contemporary issues such as the causal links between pornography and acts of violence against women. She also draws analogies between women and colonized peoples and sketches a ``feminist diplomacy'' to help women bridge barriers of race, class, age, ethnicity and sexual preference. Surveying the international crime of female genital mutilation, Morgan calls for the abolition of this practice. In trenchant travel pieces, Morgan, editor-in-chief of Ms. magazine, reports on feminist stirrings in the Philippines and on the plight of Palestinian women in Israel's Occupied Territories. Her pieces should instill hope, energy and commitment into feminism. (Nov.)