In Brief

Hawthorne's Fuller Mystery, by Thomas R. Mitchell. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1998.

New Latina Narrative: The Feminine Space of Postmodern Ethnicity, by Ellen McCracken. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1999.

Dos Passos and the Ideology of the Feminine, by Janet Galligani Casey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

The World Wars Through the Female Gaze, by Jean Gallagher. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1998.

The Play of Reason: From the Modern to the Postmodern, by Linda Nicholson. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999.

Sex and Sexuality in Early America, edited by Merril D. Smith. New York: New York University Press, 1998.

Kate Chopin's Private Papers, edited by Emily Toth and Per Seyersted, associate editor, Cheyenne Bonnell. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998.

Sex and Citizenship in Antebellum America, by Nancy Isenberg. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.

Women and the Rise of the Novel, 1405–1726, by Josephine Donovan. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999.

Eroticism on the Renaissance Stage: Transcendence, Desire, and the Limits of the Visible, by Celia R. Daileader. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.     

In Brief

In contemporary Japan, the family remains a strong social and legal entity. The right to make decisions on behalf of another in emergency situations lies with the immediate family. Similarly, immediate family members are legally entitled to claim from deceased family member's estates. One way to ensure that property and inheritance rights are passed on to same-sex partners is for the older partner to adopt the younger, thereby becoming family in the eyes of the law. An alternative that has recently been proposed is for partners to draw up legal agreements and register them with a local notary office. Neither of these options are problem free—the former introduces a parent/child relationship to a domestic partnership; the latter is yet to be tested in a court of law. Both rely on surreptitiously accessing (or appropriating) the existing civil code. This article briefly outlines the current situation in Japan regarding same-sex partnership rights and the alternatives available.     

In Brief

COURAGE AND TOOLS: THE FLORENCE HOWE AWARD FOR FEMINIST SCHOLARSHIP 1974–1989, edited by Joanne Glasgow and Angela Ingram. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1990, 277 pp., $35.00 hardcover, $15.00 paper.     

In Brief

Eleanor Clift and Tom Brazaitis. Madam President: Women Blazing the Leadership Trail. (New York: Routledge, 2003). Geraldine Ferraro remains in the hearts of 21st century women as a brave, intelligent, politically motivated woman. In 1984, she exhibited the fortitude to become the first female vice presidential candidate for a major party ballot. Women may have applauded her but, ultimately, they did not vote for her. In fact, there have been no female presidential candidates since that unsuccessful election. Four major campaigns have occurred and none of them have included any women candidates on the ballots. According to Clift and Brazaitis, whose political handbook represents exceptional guidelines, a woman rising to the political presidential challenge will not simply be a “Cinderella” story, but will instead require “hard work.”     

In Brief

Margaret Cavendish, The Convent of Pleasure and Other Plays, edited by Anne Shaver (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins UP, 1999).

Rising Star: Dandyism, Gender, and Performance in the Fin de Siècle, by Rhonda Garelick (Princeton: Princeton U P, 1998).

Television, History, and American Culture: Feminist Critical Essays, edited by Mary Beth Haralovich, and Lauren Rabinovitz (Durham and London: Duke UP, 1999).

Soft Canons: American Women Writers and Masculine Traditions, edited by Karen L. Kilcup (Iowa City: U of Iowa P, 1999).

The Suppression of Salt of the Earth: How Hollywood, Big Labor, and Politicians Blacklisted A Movie in Cold War America, by James J. Lorence (Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 1999).

Working Hard and Making Do: Surviving in Small Town America, by Margaret K. Nelson, and Joan Smith (Berkeley: U of California P, 1999).

Women's Reading in Britain: A Dangerous Recreation, by Jacqueline. Pearson (Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1999).

Regine Pernoud, and Marie‐Veronique Clin, Joan of Arc: Her Story, revised and trans, by Jeremy duQuesnay Adams (New York: St. Martin's P, 1999).

Design and Feminism: Re‐Visioning Spaces, Places, and Everyday Things, edited by Joan Rothschild (New Brunswick: Rutgers U P, 1999).

Feminism and Cultural Studies, edited by Morag Schiach (Oxford: Oxford U P, 1999).

Southern Mothers: Fact and Fictions in Southern Women's Writing, edited by Nagueyalti Warren, and Sally Wolff (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1999).