Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) was an ardent feminist and outspoken champion of women's rights. In this profoundly insightful and cogently argued work, Gilman describes how the social and sexual disparities between men and women, long thought to be preordained and unchanging, are actually the result of economics. The position of women as the property of men, their inability to earn in proportion to the amount of work they do, and the very devaluation of their work, all tend to the exaggerated social differences between men as 'providers' and 'competitors' and women as 'helpless' and 'unproductive'. These differences lead to social dysfunction and ultimately to the destruction of the bond that ought to exist between and unite the sexes. Gilman's classic plea for greater parity for men and women still speaks directly to the problems women continue to face in the workplace as well as to the ways men view women.

I have nothing to offer the world but what I think... I think that the thing that I am here to do is a big thing - the truth. I see deep basic truths; and that I have been given unusual powers of expression. I truly hope that my life will count for much good in the world. - letter to George Houghton Gilman, May 11, 1897. Charlotte Perkins Gilman is best known as the author of the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" and a utopian novel, "Herland", but she also wrote six nonfiction books and hundreds of articles and lectures. Arguably one of the most radical and certainly one of the most original thinkers of her era, Gilman (1860-1935) is missing from the male-authored intellectual histories and biographies of the period. This reader is an effort to fill that gap, offering a representative sample of her nonfiction writing. Presented chronologically, these selections emphasize her thoughts on gender, evolution, economics, radical political movements, and women's groups. Each chapter begins with an exploration of her life during the years covered and a discussion of contemporary intellectual, social, and political developments.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1869-1935) was one of the leading intellectuals of the American women's movement in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Moving beyond the struggle for suffrage, Gilman confronted an even larger problem-economic and social discrimination against women. Her book, Women and Economics, published in 1898, was repeatedly printed and translated into seven languages. She was a tireless traveler, lecturer, and writer and is perhaps best known for her dramatic short story, The Yellow Wallpaper Gilman's autobiography gives us access to the life of a remarkable and courageous woman. Originally published in 1935, soon after Gilman's death, The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman has been out of print for several years. This edition includes a new introduction by Gilman's noted biographer, Anne J. Lane.

INTRODUCED BY MAGGIE O'FARRELL'A great work of literature, the product of a questing, burning intellect' MAGGIE O'FARRELL 'Even if the themes being explored might seem irrelevant . . . this is not the case' GUARDIAN'I loved the unnerving, sarcastic tone, the creepy ending' PARIS REVIEW Based on the author's own experiences, The Yellow Wallpaper is the chilling tale of a woman driven to the brink of insanity by the 'rest cure' prescribed after the birth of her child. While she is isolated in a crumbling mansion, in a room with bars on the windows, the tortuous pattern of the yellow wallpaper winds its way into the recesses of her mind. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was America's leading feminist intellectual of the early twentieth century and a brilliant writer, editor and speaker. The Yellow Wallpaper is her masterpiece.

On the eve of World War I, an all-female society is discovered somewhere in the distant reaches of the earth by three male explorers who are now forced to re-examine their assumptions about women's roles in society.