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The Women’s Review of Books Vol. XX, No. 7 April 2003 74035 $4.00 I In This Issue Smock © John I In her first novel, Korean American Caroline Hwang tells the story of Ginger Lee, the comically rebellious daughter of Korean par- ents: Christine Thomas reviews In Full Bloom,p.14. I Indian activist Arundhati Roy speaks out around the world against the evils of globalization: now, in “Come September,” an essay written to mark the first anniversary of September 11, she reflects on the multiple, interconnected anniversaries that fall on that date, p. 6. I Is it true that writers of children’s books are really children who never grew up? In her review of Girls and Boys Forever, Elizabeth Bobrick takes issue with Alison Lurie’s claim, p. 8. I In The Country Under My Skin, Nicaraguan poet Gioconda Belli looks Caroline Hwang, author of In Full Bloom. back on her life as a feminist in the heart of the Sandinista revolution: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz reads her poignant recollections of the triumph and defeat of a dream, p. 12. Out of the rubble I What is it like to be a foster par- by Amy Zalman ent? Kathy Harrison’s Another Place at the Table offers an unusual glimpse of Competing perspectives on the the satisfactions and tribulations that lives of Afghan women come with the job: Edith Milton I reviews her account of caring for “an hen the United States made its of Afghan women from Taliban rule endless succession of abused and neg- opening gambit in the war against occurred as a by-product of the U.S.-led lected children,” p. 13. W terrorism by bombing Afghani- military action in Afghanistan.” Indeed, stan in October 2001, the need to liberate Hassan believes that were it not for the Afghan women from the Taliban regime September 11 attacks, Afghan women I and more... lent moral justification to the attacks. “would have continued to live and die in 04> Among some who had long sought to bring horrific conditions under Taliban rule.” into view human rights abuses under the The emergence of Afghan women as a Taliban, such justification rang hollow. human rights cause in the last year raises Riffat Hassan, a feminist Muslim theologian anew questions about the relationship and contributor to Women for Afghan Women, between politics and the information market. 0374470 74035 one of a number of recently released books on the topic, observes that the “‘liberation’ PRINTED IN THE USA continued on page three The Women’s Review Contents of Books Wellesley College Center for Research on Women Wellesley, MA 02481 I UT OF THE RUBBLE 1 Amy Zalman O : Competing perspectives on the lives of Afghan women (781) 283-2087/ (888) 283-8044 www.wellesley.edu/WomensReview 5 Heather Hewett I The Stone Virgins by Yvonne Vera Volume XX, No. 7 April 2003 6 Arundhati Roy I COME SEPTEMBER: Will things get better after they get worse? EDITOR IN CHIEF: Linda Gardiner 8 Elizabeth Bobrick I Boys and Girls Forever: Children’s Classics from Cinderella to Harry Potter PRODUCTION EDITOR: Amanda Nash by Alison Lurie CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Martha Nichols, Jan Zita Grover POETRY EDITOR: Robin Becker 9 Sharon Thompson I The Story of My Father: A Memoir by Sue Miller ADVERTISING MANAGER: Anita D. McClellan 10 Shahla Haeri I Inside Iran: Women’s Lives by Jane Howard OFFICE MANAGER: Nancy Wechsler EDITORIAL BOARD: Margaret Andersen I Robin Becker I Claudia M. Christie I 11 Jeanne Marecek I The Thief of Happiness: The Story of an Extraordinary Psychotherapy Marsha Darling I Anne Fausto-Sterling I by Bonnie Friedman Carol Gilligan I Sandra Harding I Nancy Hartsock I Carolyn Heilbrun I Evelyn Fox Keller I Jean Baker Miller I Ruth Perry I 12 Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz I The Country Under My Skin: A Memoir of Love and War by Gioconda Belli Peggy Phelan I Helene Vivienne Wenzel 13 Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz I Love after 9/11 (poem) EDITORIAL POLICY: The Women’s Review of Books is feminist but not restricted to any one conception of feminism; 13 Edith Milton I Another Place at the Table by Kathy Harrison all writing that is neither sexist, racist, homo- phobic, nor otherwise discriminatory will be 14 Christine Thomas I In Full Bloom by Caroline Hwang welcome. We seek to represent the widest possible range of feminist perspectives both in the books reviewed and in the content of 15 Heidi Bell I The Chelsea Whistle by Michelle Tea the reviews. We believe that no one of us, alone or in a group, can speak for feminism, 16 Valerie Miner I Good Faith by Jane Smiley or women, as such; all of our thinking and writing takes place in a specific political, social, ethnic and sexual context, and a 17 Karen Rosenberg I Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years, Volume One: responsible review periodical should reflect Made for America, 1890-1901 edited by Candace Falk, Barry Pateman and Jessica Moran and further that diversity. The Women’s Review takes no editorial stance; all the views expressed in it represent the opinion of the 18 Nina Auerbach I Unauthorized Pleasures: Accounts of Victorian Erotic Experience individual authors. by Ellen Bayuk Rosenman ADVERTISING POLICY: The Women’s Review accepts both display and 19 Books Received classified advertising. Classified rates are $1.15 per word, with a ten word minimum. The base rate for display ads is $53 per col- umn inch; for more information on rates and available discounts, call or write to the adver- tising manager. The Women’s Review will not Contributors accept advertising which is clearly inappropri- ate to the goals of a feminist publication; however, as we are unable to investigate the NINA AUERBACH is John Welsh Centennial Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. She has written widely about accuracy of claims made by our advertisers, Victorian England. Her books include Woman and the Demon: The Life of a Victorian Myth and Ellen Terry: Player in Her Time. publication of an advertisement does not rep- HEIDI BELL is a freelance writer and editor living in Aurora, Illinois. Her writing has appeared in Salon.com, Seattle Review and Prairie resent endorsement by The Women’s Review. Schooner. She is working on a novel. Advertising inquiries: call 781-283-2560. ELIZABETH BOBRICK, an essayist and fiction writer, teaches non-fiction writing at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. She has written on children and children’s literature for Salon, the Living section of MSNBC.com and Psychology Today. The Women’s Review of Books (ISSN #0738- ROXANNE DUNBAR-ORTIZ is a historian specializing in US imperialism and Latin America. She has published two works of mem- 1433) is published monthly except August by The Women’s Review, Inc., 828 Washington oir, Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie (Verso, 1997) and Outlaw Woman: Memoir of the War Years, 1960-75 (City Lights, 2002). South End Press will Street, Wellesley, MA 02481. Annual subscrip- publish her memoir of Sandinista Nicaragua in 2004. tions are $27.00 for individuals and $47.00 for SHAHLA HAERI is the director of the women’s studies program at Boston University. Her latest book, No Shame for the Sun: Lives of institutions. Overseas postage fees are an Professional Pakistani Women, is published by Syracuse University Press (2002). Her video documentary, “Mrs. President: Women and additional $20.00 airmail or $5.00 surface mail Political Leadership in Iran” (46 min. subtitled, 2002) is distributed by Films for Humanities and Sciences (www.films.com) in the United to all countries outside the US. Back issues are States and Canada. available for $4.00 per copy. Please allow 6-8 weeks for all subscription transactions. HEATHER HEWETT is a freelance journalist, book critic and essayist living in New York City. She writes frequently about African Periodicals class postage paid at Boston, MA writers. and additional mailing offices. POSTMAS- MELANIE KAYE/KANTROWITZ is a writer, teacher and long-time activist. Her books include poetry (We Speak in Code) and fiction TER: send address corrections to The Women’s (My Jewish Face & Other Stories, Diaspora: a Novel and Tales of Late Capitalism, in progress) as well as essays and reviews. She works as the Review of Books, Wellesley College Center for director of the Queens College Worker Education Extension Center in Manhattan. Research on Women, Wellesley, MA 02481. The Women’s Review of Books is a project of the JEANNE MARECEK holds the W. R. Kenan, Jr. Professorship of Psychology at Swarthmore College where she is a member of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women’s Studies Program. Her publications include Making a Difference: Psychology and the Construction of Gender (with Rachel Hare-Mustin, Women. As an autonomous publication it has Yale University Press, 1990); “Trauma talk in feminist clinical practice” in New Versions of Victims: Feminists Struggle with the Concept, edited its own editorial board and board of directors, by Sharon Lamb (New York University Press, 1999); and “Unfinished business: Postmodern feminism in personality psychology” in who set policy with regard to its editorial, Rethinking Mental Health and Disorder, edited by Mary Ballou and Laura S. Brown (Guilford, 2002). She teaches courses on psychotherapy, financial and organizational character. abnormal psychology, gender and feminist theory. The Women’s Review is distributed by Total EDITH MILTON has written fiction, essays and literary reviews for many periodicals. She is working on a memoir of her childhood Circulation, New York City, NY; Ingram, years with an English foster family. Nashville, TN; and Armadillo Trading, Culver City, CA. All other distribution is handled VALERIE MINER is the author of ten books.