"A fine introduction to the bold, contentious, complicated women who categorically refused to be good little girls, and thereby changed the way our culture defines male-female relations".--Voice Literary Supplement.

Prodigiously influential, Jacques Derrida gave rise to a comprehensive rethinking of the basic concepts and categories of Western philosophy in the latter part of the twentieth century, with writings central to our understanding of language, meaning, identity, ethics and values. In 1993, a conference was organized around the question, 'Whither Marxism?’, and Derrida was invited to open the proceedings. His plenary address, 'Specters of Marx', delivered in two parts, forms the basis of this book. Hotly debated when it was first (...) published, a rapidly changing world and world politics have scarcely dented the relevance of this book. (shrink)

Her shape and his hand -- Distractions -- The other door, it's floods of tears with consolation enclosed -- Not only the footprints but the water too and what is down there -- There are crossroads.

This volume collects many of the major essays of feminist theory of the past forty years. The essays included here are those which have made key contributions to feminist theory during this period and which have generated extensive discussion. The volume organizes these essays historically, so as to provide a sense of the major turning points in feminist theory. Beginning with those essays which have provoked widespread discussion in the early days of the second wave, the volume then presents essays (...) which have been central to major discussions since that time. The essays present the complex relationship between feminism and Marxism, the second wave's "gynocentric turn," the theoretical elaboration of differences among women, and the essentialist debate, as these have occupied the attention of feminist theorists. Through this collection, the reader is able to gain a sense of the diverse directions feminist theory has taken over the past forty years, where feminist theory stands at the moment, and the questions which are just now beginning to emerge. (shrink)

Katie King examines the development of U.S. feminist theory, tracing its inception, rocky development, and internecine struggles. She argues that the subject matter of women's studies is cultural studies. "This book should definitively alter the map of contemporary feminist theory in the U.S. and abroad... " --Donna Landry.