A sensation upon its publication in 1970, Sexual Politics documents the subjugation of women in great literature and art. Beginning in 1830 and targeting four revered authors: D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, Norman Mailer, and Jean Genet, Kate Millett builds a damning profile of literature's patriarchal myths and their extension into psychology, philosophy, and politics. Her eloquence and popular examples taught a generation to recognize inequities masquerading...

"Let's face it, women's representation in literature really sucks. And that's mostly because of the male authors who write female characters like they're nothing more than playthings in their stories. Whether they have breasts like ripe peaches or curves like a racetrack, the literary ladies gracing the pages of bestselling books rarely serve a purpose beyond supporting a male character (or giving him something to fantasize about). But what are you...

Annotation.

Shakespeare and Women challenges a number of current assumptions about Shakespeare and women, including the women in his family, the women who worked in the London theatre industry, the female characters in his plays, and the dark lady of the Sonnets. It argues that the current scholarly emphasis on patriarchal power, male misogyny, and women's oppression may tell us more about ourselves than about the world Shakespeare inhabited and the worlds he...