Comments on: See, It’s Because Women Can’t Review Military History…

By: Carter Jefferson

Carter Jefferson — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 00:50:21 +0000

With all due respect, which is not much, the print book reviews are out to lunch and don’t know what the world is like, and I don’t mean just about domestic matters.

Which is why several of us have started The Internet Review of Books –
internetreviewofbooks.com –and are planning to fill the void. You’ll find plenty of women reviewers there, and a good many books on subjects that may be of particular interest to women. One of three associate editors and the fiction editor are women. In the military business, take a look at the review of Co-Ed Combat, by Kingsley Browne, reviewed by Diane Diekman, a retired Navy captain, in our Dec.
2007 issue. It’s not a history book; it’s an argument.

Our editors find reviewers the same way other editors do–with a lot of help from our friends. But, we, even the males, have literate women friends.

We’re still very small, but we’ll grow. Our first monthly issue appeared in October. We added coverage of novels in January. We’ll continue to expand. When we get enough hits, we’ll start getting ads, and then we’ll pay reviewers. After a while we’ll make enough money to pay even me.

Don’t give up hope–just look elsewhere.

By: Kassia Krozser

Kassia Krozser — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 07:10:20 +0000

Lisa, point taken. I stand corrected. Thank you.

By: Lisa Silverman

Lisa Silverman — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 06:29:59 +0000

I’m with you on everything except, perhaps, that no great fiction is written about war… But it’s true that the great fiction in which war is the focus, as you put it, is about the absurdity of war: Catch-22, for example.

By: Kassia Krozser

Kassia Krozser — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 05:12:08 +0000

Ah, Anne, I could go on for days (literally) about the important versus unimportant issue. It has never been clear to me how any thinking person can discount the importance of the so-called domestic sphere…until I recall that those who do so think that war is actually a way to solve problems. If you think about it (which you’ve probably done more so than me), no great fiction is written about war. It is set against the backdrop of war, war might inform situations, but war rarely serves as the focus of the story. War is an event. Even issues of good versus evil or brother versus brother are brought to the domestic level. What is war if not about home?

When I grow up I want to be Virginia Woolf. Or me with the same level of cleverness. I’m easy!

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 03:09:44 +0000

Woolf made fun of this–the way that war and sport are deemed “important” and shopping and children are “unimportant” because of their perceived connections to gender. Oh, she ripped them.

In 1929.

Great job, Kassia!

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 03:07:56 +0000

Woolf made fun of this–the way that war and sport are important and shopping and children are unimportant.

In 1929.

Great job, Kassia!

By: Edward Champion’s Return of the Reluctant » The Half-Blind Roundup

Edward Champion’s Return of the Reluctant » The Half-Blind Roundup — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 19:50:13 +0000

[...] Kroszer has much to say about sexism, reading audiences and the bigger picture for book review [...]

By: MARJORIE

MARJORIE — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 19:26:43 +0000

I HAD BEEN WONDERING ABOUT THAT- I MEAN WHY DO ALL BOOKS REVIEWED BY NEW YORK TIMES HAVE TO DO WITH WAR, RAPE, CANNIBALISM AND ALL THE OTHER GARBAGE- EVEN IF ITS TRASH- IF THEY HAD PUBLISHED THE OJ SIMPSON BOOK, IT WOULD BE BEST SELLER BY NOW-iF IT CONTAINS WOMEN’S ISSUES- NY TIMES WANTS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT—

By: Kassia Krozser

Kassia Krozser — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 17:26:19 +0000

Yes, almost too much food. A veritable feast. You get what you pay for around here!

By: David Thayer

David Thayer — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:02:58 +0000

So much food for thought here. Bizarre as the NYTBR seems both in gender bias and book selection the LAT Book Review is introducing actual physical pain for readers. I hope UCLA will
have a class on rotating the new book review that will appear on Saturday even though it says Sunday.