Let's Review

This came to me From Katha Pollitt by way of Deirdre English: The Women's Review of Books is back. I always think it's curious that there's such a huge interest in women's popular culture with only a minor shrug to women in literature. (OK, when Britney Spears is showing her cha cha in front of god and everyone you've certainly got my attention more than an expository essay on Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Where is Camille Paglia when we need her?) It sounds like the new and improved journal is being revamped to be more relevant to a broader audience. Hell, I'll probably subscribe. Here's Pollitt's note:

SUBSCRIBE TO THE WOMEN’S REVIEW OF BOOKS!


Was Elizabeth Cady Stanton a racist-- or way ahead of her time? Do men and women really speak different languages --Martian and Venusian-- or do they both talk Earthling? What’s up with America’s obsession with black men’s penis size, anyway?

If you subscribe to the Women’s Review of Books, you’re up to date on these and many other topics, from Doris Lessing’s latest novel and Hirsi Ali’s latest polemic to the economics of prostitution and the sociology of abstinence-only sex ed . If you don’t yet know the WRB, you’ve been missing a lot -- great reviewing from Vivian Gornick, Dorothy Allison, Tricia Rose, Rosalind Barnett and Caryl rivers, Ann Snitow, the distinguished economist Barbara Bergmann and many other provocative writers and scholars, to say nothing of poems, cartoons, photographs and the ever-lively letters section.

I can’t tell you how often I hear complaints about the short shrift paid to books written by women in mainstream newspapers and magazines, and the lack of women -- and especially feminist women -- reviewers. Important books, both academic and general-interest, simply don’t get reviewed. Or are reviewed, how shall I put this, unintelligently. The WRB represents a real alternative -- for books, for reviewers, and for its many enthusiastic readers. If you care about women, about scholarship, about fiction, about books -- you need to be part of the conversation at WRB!

A subscription to WRB makes a great holiday present -- for friends, relatives, your public library, or yourself! And nothing could be easier -- just visit www.wcwonline.org/womensreview and click on “subscribe.” A year of Women’s Review of Books—six great issues full of reviews, essays, poetry, author interviews, and artwork by cartoonists and photographers—costs $33. That’s about the price of two CDs or dinner for two at one of those great little neighborhood places that don’t exist any more..

Happy holidays, happy reading,
and please forward this letter to people who might be interested!

Katha Pollitt
kpollitt@thenation.com