writing: books

Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives
(New York: McGraw-Hill, fourth edition) -- with Margo Okazawa-Rey.

This introductory text-reader for women's studies was first published in 1997. It started out as two separate photocopied readers that we used in our classes at Antioch College (GK) and San Francisco State University (MOR). We wanted a book that integrated a broad range of women’s experiences of class, race, culture, nation, disability, age, and sexual orientation. We wanted students to learn about the wealth of activism in the United States that seeks to improve women’s lives. And we wanted them to understand the global economic system that distributes wealth, jobs, and power, as well as the significance of US dominance in the world, in terms of language and popular culture, the power of the dollar and US-based corporations, and the prevalence of the US military.

We are concerned about the many challenges facing women and men in the 21st century regarding work and livelihood, personal and family relationships, violence on many levels, and the fragile physical environment. How is our society going to provide for its people? How are people going to share this planet? What are the effects of increasing polarization between rich and poor communities in the United States and between rich and poor nations? Genuine security and sustainability—at personal, community-wide, national, and planetary levels—are key issues for the future. These themes provide a wider framework for the book.

The book has chapters on theories and theorizing, identities, body image and beauty ideals, health, violence against women, work/wages/welfare, living in a global economy, crime and criminalization, militaries, war and peace, women and the environment, and creating change. Order it through the McGraw-Hill website or contact them for complimentary professional copies.

Greenham Women Everywhere: Dreams, Ideas and Actions, from the Women’s Peace Movement
(London: Pluto Press /Boston: South End Press, 1983)—with Alice Cook.

We were inspired to write this book by the women we met through Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, set up in 1981 outside USAF Greenham Common in England, where NATO planned to site nuclear-capable cruise missiles. The ideas and vitality of the peace camp were in dramatic contrast to the bleakness and dreadful purpose of the base – two opposing value systems next to one another but, literally, on opposite sides of the fence. We interviewed women and drew on personal conversations, leaflets, newsletters, and our involvement in workshops and organizing meetings to present a range of voices. We explored what is involved--emotionally, practically, and intellectually--in becoming an activist, and the effectiveness of women’s nonviolent direct action.

“What we want to change is immense. It’s not just getting rid of nuclear weapons it’s getting rid of the whole structure that created the possibility of nuclear weapons in the first place. If we don’t use our imagination nothing will change. Without change we will destroy the planet. It’s as simple as that.”
(Lesley Boulton, June 1982)

Urban Planning in a Capitalist Society
(London: Croom Helm, 1980).

This book analyzes the strengths, weaknesses, and fundamental contradictions of the British urban planning system. It views land use planning as both a technical and political activity, involving the distribution of scarce resources. Urbanization requires housing, schools, public transportation, utilities, and so on, to accommodate an urban workforce. Yet, private enterprise is only willing to meet these needs if the financial returns compare favorably to alternative investments in, for example, manufacturing, land and property development, mineral extraction, or trade.  Government intervention alleviates this contradiction somewhat through land use planning, though its scope and effectiveness is seriously limited by both the private ownership of land and private initiative in development. 

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