Analyzing feudalism in Europe and Japan and European expropriation of lands and peoples across the globe, Marilyn French poses a provocative question: how and why did women, with no power or independence, nourish and preserve the family unit and their own culture?

Marilyn French's The Women's Room crystallized the issues that ignited the women's movement and was translated into twenty languages. She received her PhD from Harvard and taught English at Hofstra University, Harvard University, and Holy Cross College.

Internationally acclaimed author and critic Margaret Atwood is the author of numerous works of fiction, including The Handmaid's Tale and The Blind Assassin.