Review by Choice Review
The term "third-wave feminism," coined in the early 1990s, refers to the newest generation of feminism. This encyclopedia is the first to introduce the movement's "key issues, members, visions, writings, and more." A chronology and historical introduction provide an excellent overview of third-wave feminism. Following these are two lists of entries, arranged alphabetically and topically. The majority of the 200 alphabetically arranged, signed entries, written by key activists and academics, conclude with a further reading section. Cross-references are abundant and often refer to the set's second volume of primary source material. The primary documents highlight the various writings of third-wave feminists. Both the documents and the encyclopedia entries focus mainly on the movement in the US. Greenwood has published an important set that should be purchased by every library interested in keeping current on the feminist movement. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above. C. S. McGowan Fairfield University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Third-wave feminism--that is, the evolution of the women's movement since the "second-wave" feminism of Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan--began in 1991 with Anita Hill's appearance at the Senate confirmation hearings on Clarence Thomas' appointment to the Supreme Court. This set is designed to showcase feminism's new issues and the women driving these philosophies forward. Volume 1 has more than 200 A-Z0 entries. Focusing on the U.S., many of the entries cover issues of pop culture with a third-wave feminist slant: Cyberspace0 and McJob0 are examples. Other entries, among them Capitalist patriarchy, Hybridity,0 and Performativity,0 are perhaps too academic for the general library patron. Thirty-seven of the articles are biographical and cover a diverse range of individuals: Lani Guinier, Monica Lewinsky, RuPaul, and Naomi Wolf, to name a few. Entries are signed and include see also 0 references and bibliographies . 0 dditional features include a chronology that begins in 1991 and a list of entries arranged by broad topic. The second volume of the encyclopedia would be an excellent "course pack" for a college women's studies class covering this time period. It contains primary documents, mostly "nonfiction pieces from crucial books and magazines." The editor explains in the encyclopedia's preface that she chose documents "that were definitional in some way, that represented fundamental aspects of third-wave feminist thinking, and that articulated the broad parameters of the many ideas that contribute to what has come to be termed 'third wave'." Because of its academic tone and specialized topic, this set is recommended primarily for exhaustive collections in women's studies and pop culture. --Danise Hoover Copyright 2006 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
This two-volume set introduces some of the key issues, members, and writings of the third wave of feminism, now 15 years old. The first volume provides quite a limited listing of entries and as a result buckles under its organizational weaknesses. Categories here are too general for practical use yet omit topics well worth inclusion, among them ecofeminism, erotica, and lesbianism. The second volume is more informative, with 515 pages culled directly from luminaries' landmark books and magazine articles. The material resonates with a message common in most variations on third-wave themes: contemporary feminism thrives as polemics in praxis. Frontrunners Rebecca Walker, Jennifer Baumgardner, Amy Richards, and Ariel Gore debate such issues as cultural, legislative, and electoral activism; racial politics, globalization, and emergent technologies; motherhood; and much more. Noted editors, authors, and activists such as Lisa Jervis and Anita Harris refine the very definition of third-wave feminism and its distinction from the ostensible postfeminist age-recalibrating social, sexual, racial, chronological, technological, and economic variables to strike a new balance in feminist objectives. These thinkers foment contention while addressing issues of women, race, and class. We find Susan Bordo critiquing the cult of youth and beauty and the Guerilla Girls comically protesting women's marginalization in their Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. Bottom Line Despite the categorization flaws, these two volumes dovetail well as a sound response to the common quandary over where to start one's feminist education. Highly recommended.-Elizabeth Kennedy, Berkeley, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Library Journal Review
