Book Review: Landscapes of the new west: gender and geography in contemporary women’s writing

Abstract

nist geographies; As such it contains information on concepts, terms, and the debates that have taken place within feminism more widely. As the editors recognize in the brief Introduction, entries in a glossary such as this can never be entirely authoritative or comprehensive. Readers will no doubt have their own list of omissions and quibbles over definitions. However, the explanations are informative, expansive and clear, and provide a good indication of the diversity and dynamism of feminist geographies. There is also meticulous crossreferencing and pointers towards further reading, both within geography and social sciences and humanities more broadly. The labour involved in preparing, writing and cross-referencing each entry by authors and editors is laudable. The entries are up-to-date and, in places, quite funny. I was amused to find an entry on ‘Essex girl’ – ‘perhaps the only geographically specific term used to refer to women in 1990s Britain’. Interestingly, ‘girl power’ and the Spice Girls make it into this edition; Camille Paglia does not. Under ‘icon/feminist icon’ is the entry ‘often used in association with Madonna – the singer, not the Virgin Mary’. Whoever said feminists don’t have a sense of humour? This collection is unique among glossaries and dictionaries in its focus on feminist geographies. For any student new to feminist perspectives within the discipline and wishing to discover the richness, breadth and diversity of approaches and subject matter, this book will be a revelation. For those more advanced students wishing to explore more detailed and dynamic debates within feminist geographies, the book will prove an invaluable companion. For teachers and students alike, the glossary is an excellent addition alongside other staple texts such as the Space, gender, knowledge reader and the WGSG book Feminist geographies. The bibliography, in addition to being an excellent resource in itself, attests to the very good health of feminist geographies at the end of the 1990s.