Subject to Debate: Sense and Dissents on Women, Politics, and Culture

This collection of Pollitt's columns for The Nation shows all her virtues: her considerable wit, her intelligence, her ability to present feminist views in a clear and coherent manner. She has a keen eye for the media's fatuities; its tendency to split the difference and to move to the stronger side, its fear that it will be viewed as too liberal, the fact that most journalists and columnists are male which does not prevent them from whining about how powerful feminists are.Consider these thoughts on the perniciousness of sports: "Fans say athletics promote values and so they do--the wrong values, like the childish confusion of physical prowess with `character' that is such a salient feature of the O.J. Simpson trial. Sports pervert education, draining dollars from academic programs and fostering anti-intellectualism. They skew the priorities of the young, especially the poor, black young, by offering them the will-o'-the-wisp incentive of a scholarship, physically gifted kids might not be so ready to blow off their schoolwork. Why not give scholarships for art or music instead?"Or consider this line about funding for the Arts and funding for NASA: "Representative Sonny Bono says he's never met anyone who benefited from public arts funding; well, I've never met anyone who cares what kind of rocks Mars has." How can one not admire a critic who has no patience with the Clintons, but recognizes that Nader's Green Party is a non-starter? How can one not admire a critic who prefers The Man who Loved Children, Song of Solomon, The Assistant, and Tongo-Bungay to the peculiar list drawn up by the Modern Library? Everyone should read a woman who castigates the ponderousness of communitarianism, the bile of a Farrakhan, and the shallowness of a Mary Daly. Everyone should read her, period.

Katha has insightful, thought-provoking views on everything from welfare mothers . . . to abortion . . . to gun-control . . . to marriage and divorce . . . to school vouchers. Reading her wonderful, witty essays helped me gain new perspective on several issues. That is not to say that I agreed with everything she said, but I always enjoyed reading her well-written, funny, honest essays. I devoured this book in a couple of days of reading it when I could steal a moment or two. It is hard to put down. I feel renewed pride in calling myself a liberal.

Katha Pollitt has a way of getting to the heart of the matter. So, for example, in an essay about the school-uniforms discussion in New York City, she starts out by noting that the "public school systen has libraries without books," that a girl was killed in one school by falling debris - and then, later - she is onto the school uniforms debate - in perspective. If you read the Nation, these essays are a terrific reprise. If you don't, you will find that they are smart, brief (a few pages at most; think of a long, utterly incisive newspaper editorial), and for students, a series of very good examples of political writing. Humor, wit, and a high level of caring about the things that matter. Some are grounded in the politics and goings-on of New York City, where Pollitt lives, but many are of national (and international) interest. Great collection.

This is without a doubt the best book of political writing I've read since ..."Reasonable Creatures." It's amazing to me how incisive and stimulating and to the point even the older pieces in this collection are. Pollitt is nondogmatic, witty, profound, eye-opening, and unafraid to take stands controversial in her own liberal or radical camp. You'll think, you'll learn, you'll agree or disagree but always enjoy it, if you buy this book.

Long before I worked for The Nation, back in the dark days of the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations, I would rush to the mailbox every week to grab the same magazine. I would immediately scour its contents hoping to find some contribution or another from Katha Pollitt. Now, just when we need Katha the most -- in the days of Bush Jr.-- what a relief it is to know that her column appears every 2 weeks in The Nation. There is simply no columnist around who is always so fresh, so provocative, and so funny (on top of it) as Katha. Unlike many, her arguments are actually thought out BEFORE she puts them in ink. And those arguments, essays and columns are clearly forged in a white-hot fusion of unshakeable radical principle with an unmistakeable humane passion (and compassion). Over the years, as a Nation colleague, I have had what I would call the privilege of engaging is some loud public political polemics with Katha. And I can say that I am lucky I have survived them! Katha is the most formidable of opponents because she is relentless in pursuing her arguments and lines of inquiry to their deepest and most authentic political implications. If you have not yet become a regular reader of Katha's work, then picking up this new collection will allow you to catch up with the rest of us and get up to speed. if you are already an initiate, re-reading these essays will be a chance to re-discover what a treasure we have in Katha Pollitt.