Letters from a War Zone

Rating:
Summary: Go where no man has gone before (or wants to go)
Review: I admit that I did not read this book in its entirety. I had some gastro-intestinal problems that I feared might escalate to produce a rather embarassing situation in the library. Besides who needs the expense for dry-cleaning a cashmere sport-jacket? I hope that most women will reject this dangerous endictment of men. I fear that if the majority of women felt as Dworkin does, the human race might come to a standstill. Her views are as dangerous as the Islamic radical views that have damaged the Middle East. Books like this can be tolerated so long as they have limited appeal. Therefore, in order to ensure that those who think like Dworkin receive the ridicule they must want, if this book is any indication. I encourage all sane men and women to speak out and give this book the review it deserves. I would never advocate censorship, and ms. Dworkin can rant all she wants. However, we should feel free to ridicule and stress the danger and folly of Dworkin's 'war zone'.

Rating:
Summary: Go where no man has gone before (or wants to go)
Review: I admit that I did not read this book in its entirety. I had some gastro-intestinal problems that I feared might escalate to produce a rather embarassing situation in the library. Besides who needs the expense for dry-cleaning a cashmere sport-jacket? I hope that most women will reject this dangerous endictment of men. I fear that if the majority of women felt as Dworkin does, the human race might come to a standstill. Her views are as dangerous as the Islamic radical views that have damaged the Middle East. Books like this can be tolerated so long as they have limited appeal. Therefore, in order to ensure that those who think like Dworkin receive the ridicule they must want, if this book is any indication. I encourage all sane men and women to speak out and give this book the review it deserves. I would never advocate censorship, and ms. Dworkin can rant all she wants. However, we should feel free to ridicule and stress the danger and folly of Dworkin's 'war zone'.

Rating:
Summary: I wish I could give it zero stars
Review: That this book was motivated by the very best of intentions -- to improve the social situation of women -- is obvious. Where this book and its author go utterly, tragically wrong is in the expression of this desire. Dworkin vents her anger indiscriminately and unthinkingly in a vitriolic, incoherent and hateful manner. While I empathize with many of the sources of her anger, the expression of it in such a manner can only hurt the cause she cares so deeply for. It is the identification of books like this one with the women's movement that has made feminism the new 'F word'. I moun for the trees that sacrificed their lives so that this book could be published.

Rating:
Summary: it's SUPPOSED to be sad
Review: the importance of this book can be found in how much it offends certain people and the way in reduces their responses to gibberish.
while i don't agree with everything that dworkin says, i can sympathize with a lot of it, especially her account of what it's like to do the "dirty work" of the womyn's movement. these feelings are applicable to anyone who has to deal with harsh realities in the pursuit of a better world. rather than take the easy path and just ignore the horror's of patriarchy, dworkin addresses them head on in a style that refuses to sugar-coat itself. her account is harsh, which is the way it should be. she's talking about things like domestic abuse and sexual assault, and people expect her to be civil?

this book made me rethink a lot of my attitudes towards gender and sexuality. whether you agree with it or not, it is an important part of feminism and deserves a reading by people who are concerned with such issues

Rating:
Summary: Feminist classic
Review: You know someone is a danger to the status quo when they're vilified in the midst of whatever human rights campaign they are part of--it happened to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it happened to Malcolm X, it happened to Nelson Mandela, it happened to Gloria Steinem, and now Andrea Dworkin shares a place on the list of luminaries. _Letters From A War Zone_ details the very sad and very real struggles of one-half of the human population to be treated as equals by the other half. Fiercely intelligent and never mincing her words, Dworkin challenges the hurtful and dehumanizing norms in our society which keep individuals of both genders, but particularly females, from living peacefully and to their fullest potential. The overall tone is angry and yet, when measuring her words, rightfully so--within the themes and contexts of rape and abuse in a world which is nightmarish at best for many, it becomes painfully clear to the reader that the real outrage is to NOT be outraged. Dworkin presents the realities of a world drowning in patriarchal values, and it isn't pretty--yet she also conveys her courage and her hope to make it better, citing her efforts to increase understanding of these issues through lectures and publishing, and even with a mention towards the end of her male lover which gives the lie to the antiquated (and always amusing) notion that all feminists are automatically man-haters for voicing any comment that doesn't put the opposite gender on a throne--the similarity to Malcolm X's relating of his experiences with white people sympathetic to the black people's struggle for equal rights (at Mecca) is both striking and beautiful. Apologists, fence-sitters, insecure male individuals who need their egos stroked and those of both genders who have a vested interest in keeping womyn--or indeed, any persecuted group--abused and "in their place" will of course hate this book. Those with open minds and an interest in feminism or indeed human rights of any kind will find this work to be both a thoughtful and passionate challenge to social injustice.