Here's all the pertinent data on that new Joanna Russ book.
What Are We Fighting for : Sex, Race, Class, and the Future of
Feminism
by Joanna Russ
Hardcover, 560 pages
Published by St Martins Pr (Trade)
Publication date: September 1, 1997
ISBN: 0312151985
List: $27.95
Reviews and Commentary for What Are We Fighting for : Sex, Race,
Class, and the Future of Feminism
>From Kirkus Reviews, 06/15/97: This ungainly book constitutes Russ's
personal canon of classic radical feminist ideas of the 1970s and
'80s that are most worth rescuing from small-press and pamphleteering
obscurity for use as a basis for recharging the women's movement. Best
known as a Nebula Award winning author of science fiction (notably The
Female Man, not reviewed), Russ is also a pioneering teacher in
women's studies and a feminist critic (How to Suppress Women's
Writing, 1983). She is totally exasperated by the development of an
academic feminism that has lured too many of her students into
following a mainstream careerist model rather than dedicate
themselves as rebel outsiders to the pursuit of liberating truth. The
perspectives of socialist feminism in early Barbara Ehrenreich and Ann
Oakley, the insights of lesbian feminists like Cherie Moraga and
Adrienne Rich, and the righteous oppositional stance of women of
color theorists like Barbara Smith and Gloria Joseph are what Russ
reclaims and seeks to propagate. She criticizes the emphasis on the
special psychology of women by theorists like Dorothy Dinnerstein,
Nancy Chodorow, and Carol Gilligan for displacing our focus from the
psychology of oppression. Her energetic exploration of the complex,
paradoxical ways that the interdependent systems of capitalism and
patriarchy oppress women and benefit men has its compelling moments.
But as Russ spins her web of ideas, she is given to asides,
digressions, and burying interesting insights in long footnotes and
supplementary chapters mischieviously labeled ``Leftovers.'' There's
a lack of pretension and a spirited commitment here that's appealing,
but the self-indulgent presentation isn't likely to make new converts.
Still, hardy veterans of the feminist wars may find this useful as a
refresher course in the bolder feminist ideas of the '70s and '80s
and will be moved not only to murmur ``Right on, sister,'' but also
to an occasional hoot. -- Copyright #1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All
rights reserved.
Synopsis: A study of the future of feminism calls for a return to the
radical roots of feminism's direct political struggle during the 1960s
and early 1970s and a move away from the de-politicized focus on
women's psychology and personal relations of today.
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