This book is an action: A case for the study of feminist publishing

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

"This Book is an Action" is the first sentence of the preface of Robin Morgan's 1970 anthology Sisterhood is Powerful and it is meant to catch the reader off guard, causing a collision between the generally passive, elitist and genteel world of the literary establishment and the world of underground radical feminist political activity. In one deceptively simple sentence, Morgan is actually asserting three things: 1)That the act of publication in itself can be a feminist act, 2)That books specifically can be a vehicle for radical feminism, and 3)That a book published by Random House could be a vehicle for radical feminism. The history of feminist book publishing has yet to be critically analyzed by historians of feminism, a curious oversight given the gatekeeping function of publishing houses. The future of feminist ideology literally depends upon what gets published, and how widely it is distributed. In this paper I will examine what is unique about the book as a medium and how the book publishing process affects the direction of political movements by regulating access to the publication and distribution of ideas. Using case studies of particular feminist "bestsellers" published by both small feminist presses with small distribution networks, and mainstream presses with enormous marketing budgets, I will lay out the different paths by which feminist text can be published (or not published) and the material and ideological consequences of each.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1-9
Number of pages9
JournalInternational Journal of the Book
Volume9
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Communication
  • History
  • Literature and Literary Theory
  • Library and Information Sciences

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'This book is an action: A case for the study of feminist publishing'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this