Review by Choice Review
This study documents the development of feminist scholars and scholarship in history, sociology, philosophy, and women's studies from the 1960s to the present. Gumport interviewed 35 female scholars and then wove their responses into a well-researched history of feminist theory. She divides these women into "pathfinders," who developed feminist scholarship in their respective subject area in the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, "pathtakers," who came later and could choose whether they wished to pursue feminist theory in their discipline or simply ignore it, and "forerunners," who had finished their academic preparation before the mid-1960s and then later accepted or ignored feminism in their scholarly lives. Gumport points out that feminist theory was much easier to insert into history than into philosophy or sociology. The book also contains a history of the development of women's studies programs and a discussion of the problems of programmatic contraction as universities became pressured to become more efficient. An excellent short history of the creation of women's studies programs is included as well. A former dissertation, this book is a bit dry but should interest historians, sociologists, philosophers, and feminists. Suitable for college libraries at lower-and upper-division undergraduate levels. E. L. Ihle James Madison University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
