An acerbic, witty, and common-sensical collection of essays on feminism, crime, and pop psychology. Because she has never been tentative about disagreeing with other feminists, whether in the Atlantic or the Village Voice, Kaminer (It's All the Rage, 1995) sometimes endears herself to those least likely to share her concerns. This collection opens with an amusingly confused conversation between Kaminer and an editor at the National Review in which Kaminer tries to explain that she isn't a suitable writer for his publication: Despite her writing on individual responsibility, she is a liberal. She tells him that for what he proposes to pay her ($225) she could write for the Nation, but she knows that isn't ``quite true. The Nation hasn't called. They probably think I'm too conservative.'' Indeed, reading these pieces, one is struck by how oddly fresh traditional liberalism sounds—indicative of how rare it is in today's political context. Kaminer is smart and judicious. In her discussions of gun control, self-help, violence against women, the death penalty, and religious freedom she consistently tries hard to understand and do justice to those with whom she disagrees. Even ideas she finds ridiculous or vacant—communitarians' notion that feminism's emphasis on rights is selfish, Michael Lerner's ``politics of meaning''—are given a reasoned hearing. Kaminer can be predictable; the answer to most political problems is, in the end, that people should have more rights and take more responsibility. Sometimes she oversimplifies and perpetuates unfortunate myths, stating, for instance, that a belief in the possibility of benign heterosexual relationships is what distinguishes liberal from radical feminists. Actually, many radical feminists are happily heterosexual; the disagreement is about the existing system's potential to bring about social change. Despite such rhetorical excesses, Kaminer adds balance, intellectual integrity, and pragmatism to some debates that badly need it.
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-201-48914-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996
Though dry, a cogent and insistent brief for restricting immigration, from an environmental perspective. Bouvier (Demography/Tulane Univ.) and Grant (Elephants in a Volkswagen, not reviewed) believe that the current US population of 250 million is already too large. We consume more than any nation, the authors write, citing ominous statistics regarding environmental degradation, hazardous wastes, the costs of energy, and agricultural damage. The nexus between population growth and environmental damage, or immigration and the decline of the cities (because immigrants take low-wage jobs away from the domestic poor), however, may not be as direct as they argue. Bouvier and Grant go on to project population patterns through the year 2050, suggesting that the force driving growth is immigration, due to the higher fertility rates of immigrants. If we do nothing to control population, they predict that either scarcity will be spread among rich and poor with increased social controls or else ``Third World'' inequalities will prevail. The authors recommend policies to lower fertility (better birth control, access to abortion), but argue that immigration must also be curbed: With low fertility and current immigration levels, they estimate, the population in 2100 will be 300 million; with drastically lowered immigration, it will be under 200 million. Their recommendation: Cut legal immigration from 800,000 a year to 200,000, and—a far more difficult task—try to curb clandestine immigration. If this were to occur, the authors project, the environment, the economy, and the cities would improve. Bouvier and Grant aren't know-nothing nationalists: They believe the US should support economic, health, and education projects that help Third World countries control fertility. Moreover, they resist charges of xenophobia and racism, suggesting that we must look at the ``quality of life for all Americans.'' Not always convincing, but a worthy stimulus to discussing a topic too often left ``in official limbo.''
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 1994
ISBN: 0-87156-496-3
Page Count: 184
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
A markedly contemporary study that navigates the New Testament scholar past the perils of Pauline theology. Boyarin (Talmudic Culture/Univ. of Calif., Berkeley; Carnal Israel, not reviewed) attempts to ``reclaim Paul as an important Jewish thinker.'' He goes on to establish this primary apostle as a Hellenized Jew whose Platonic sensibility calls for a universal sameness that negates the divisions separating Jew from Gentile and man from woman. The disembodied spirituality of Platonic dualism allows females (especially virgins) to be equal to men under Christ, and allows an uncircumcised Christian of any gender to ``circumcise the foreskin of her [sic] heart'' with Hebrew Bible commandments universalized and allegorized. Boyarin does not glibly valorize Paul as a champion of feminism and an opponent of Jewish exclusivist chauvinism. After crediting Paul for being a radical social critic, the author makes clear how the apostle's pre-Marxist universalism too easily slid into violent coercion in the later, blood-soaked chapters of Christian history. Boyarin analyzes the work of many Christian scholars in concluding that Lutheran misinterpretations of Paul allow us to consider the apostle to be far more antagonistic to Jews and Judaism than he really was. The benefit of Boyarin's Jewish defense against hermeneutical Christian anti-Semitism is tempered by his disdain for a Judaic ``tendency towards contemptuous neglect for human solidarity'' and his anti- Zionism (``modern Jewish statist nationalism has been...very violent and exclusionary''). Sometimes he confuses Christian ``salvation'' theology with Jewish belief, and he fails to find any similarity between Pauline Platonism and the allegorical and universal levels of Torah laws. The final chapter digresses to a personal view of the ``essentialist/social constructionist dichotomy,'' but the book does end with ample notes and bibliography. A rewarding read for students of Christian theology willing to be challenged by today's multicultural, poststructuralist, postfeminist scholarship.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-520-08592-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Univ. of California
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
