A Jury of Her Peers is an unprecedented literary landmark: the first comprehensive history of American women writers from 1650 to 2000.

In a narrative of immense scope and fascination—brimming with Elaine Showalter’s characteristic wit and incisive opinions—we are introduced to more than 250 female writers. These include not only famous and expected names (Harriet Beecher Stowe, Willa Cather, Dorothy Parker, Flannery O’Connor, Gwendolyn Brooks, Grace Paley, Toni Morrison, and Jodi Picoult among them), but also many who were once successful and acclaimed yet now are little known, from the early American best-selling novelist Catherine Sedgwick to the Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Susan Glaspell. Showalter shows how these writers—both the enduring stars and the ones left behind by the canon—were connected to one another and to their times. She believes it is high time to fully integrate the contributions of women into our American literary heritage, and she undertakes the task with brilliance and flair, making the case for the unfairly overlooked and putting the overrated firmly in their place.

Whether or not readers agree with the book’s roster of writers, A Jury of Her Peers is an irresistible invitation to join the debate, to discover long-lost great writers, and to return to familiar titles with a deeper appreciation. It is a monumental work that will greatly enrich our understanding of American literary history and culture.


“Elaine Showalter’s case for nearly four centuries of American women’s writing unfolds in a narrative as gripping as a favorite novel. Smartly paced and peppered with choice anecdotes and telling excerpts, A Jury of Her Peers shows vast knowledge and keen insight delivered with grace and verve. Readers will delight in the discovery of new writers and fresh encounters with familiar figures as Showalter once again proves to be the leading feminist literary authority of our time.” —Cecelia Tichi, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English at Vanderbilt University

“Only Elaine Showalter, our foremost feminist critic, could give us this extraordinary and endlessly intriguing book. It is at once magisterial and delicate, comprehensive and richly detailed, critically acute yet generous. She tells stories of art being made from—and sometimes in spite of—love, marriage, loneliness, housework, politics, motherhood, and hardship. Yet always the writing itself is at the center, as Showalter stakes out the tradition’s common ground and illuminates its most startling and stunning creations.” —Christine Stansell, author of American Moderns: New York Bohemia and the Creation of a New Century

“A Jury of Her Peers is a work of astonishing vision, breadth, intelligence, and audacity. Elaine Showalter, long recognized as our preeminent feminist scholar-critic, whose prose shimmers with wickedly funny asides, has produced the most ambitious and brilliantly executed book of her career, one that is sure to be required reading for all who have an interest in American literary history.” —Joyce Carol Oates

“Lucid, lively, and learned, Elaine Showalter’s ambitious portraits of notable and forgotten women writers comprise an incomparable literary collage. An extraordinary achievement.” —Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, coauthors, The Madwoman in the Attic and coeditors, The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women

“It seems incredible that—until now—no history of American women writers should have been available. Professor Showalter has undertaken an immense task and produced a wonderful book, one which deserves to become a literary landmark. Witty, erudite, thoughtful and stylish, A Jury of Her Peers is deeply researched, beautifully structured and compellingly narrated.” —Miranda Seymour, author of Thrumpton Hall, winner of the 2008 Pen Ackerley Prize for Memoir of the Year

“A masterful achievement. Thorough yet concise, learned yet lively and entertaining, Elaine Showalter’s literary history gives us brilliant accounts of the lives and works of America’s women writers, many of whom she has recovered from near literary oblivion.  Her passion for her subjects and her always stimulating opinions will engage many readers, from the first provocative paragraphs about the origin of Susan Glaspell’s story, “A Jury of Her Peers,” to the final discussion of Annie Proulx’s antiheroic rodeo stories. This is a remarkable book, one that deserves to become a classic.” —Emory Elliot, General Editor, The Columbia Literary History of the United States

“‘Why did this woman disappear from literary history?’ is the central query posed by Elaine Showalter. It’s the question that historians of women’s literature seem condemned to repeat in each generation. The disappearing woman might be Susanna Rowson (America’s first bestselling novelist) or, as inconceivable as it may seem, a hundred years from now the question could be posed about a Nobel Prize winner named Toni Morrison. That’s the point: brilliance, accomplishment, and world-wide fame do not ensure that women’s literary reputations last. As eloquent as it is encyclopedic, A Jury of Her Peers is designed to countermand this pernicious historical pattern and celebrate two-hundred and fifty great writers who also happen to be female.” —Cathy N. Davidson, co-editor of the Oxford Companion to Women’s Writing in the United States

“A landmark of discovery, synthesis, and acute judgment, A Jury of Her Peers will stand as the defining account of American women’s writing for many years to come.” —Eric J. Sundquist, Professor of Literature, University of California Los Angeles

“Out of the many thousands of American women who have published since Anne Bradstreet’s Tenth Muse appeared in 1650, the well-known feminist literary critic Elaine Showalter has selected over 250, crafting a thoughtful and provocative narrative history of women struggling, striving, and arriving in the literary marketplace. The book follows women through four historical stages of literary professionalism from housebound secrecy up to the present day when, finally, they can write as they please about anything they please. Adroit summaries mesh with sophisticated assessment to produce a book that is certain to take its place on the shelf of every person interested in American literary history.” —Nina Baym, General Editor of the Norton Anthology of American Literature

“Elaine Showalter brings American women writers to life in this immensely readable and illuminating literary history from the Puritans to the present. A rare combination of vivid writing, brilliant analysis and scholarly substance–engaging from beginning to end.” —Wendy Martin, author of An American Triptych: Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, and Adrienne Rich and editor of We Are the Stories We Tell

“By covering the lives and careers of hundreds of American women writers of all backgrounds, this survey is ambitious and galvanizing. . . . the first guide and history ever attempted by one scholar working solo. . . . Showalter’s Baedeker showcases the rise and fall of styles and genres. Lives and careers of superstars . . . are put into high relief. The voices of several hundred other authors . . . sing out in a monumental choral orchestrated by Showalter (A Literature of Their Own), a groundbreaking feminist scholar at Princeton.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“[A] remarkable book. . . . [Showalter’s] approach . . . is unifying and magnanimous. She brings a perspective to changing literary culture that makes criticism seem not only understandable but also healthy and invigorating, making the work timeless in its ability to weather readers’ changing priorities. . . . A Jury of Her Peers does an enormous service, house a drop-dead reading list and gives the reader a fluid framework for the great (much of it still undiscovered) wealth of writing by women in this country.” –Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

“A breathtaking overview of the intersections of gender and genre in American letters. . . . Showalter’s desire is to move beyond stockpiling the poetry, plays and fiction of American women to a place of thoughtful and active critique. Instead of simply asking, ‘Remember these writers?’ she further queries, ‘And are these writers any good?’ Showalter refuses to be either an unthinking cheerleader or an apolitical critic. . . . With its frank assessments, impressive research and expansive scope, A Jury of Her Peers belongs on the shelf of any reader interested in the development of women’s writing in America." –Jennifer Cognard-Black, Ms. Magazine


“Enlightening . . . the book may be dipped into at any chapter with much reward . . . . Showalter captures so well, often in just a few paragraphs, the image of the women she writes about. . . . Reading A Jury of Her Peers is not only an education in literary history, it is eminently satisfactory intellectual nourishment. 4 out of 4 stars." –Javan Kienzle, Free Press

“Showalter may have written the perfect book-group book: Not only is it fascinating on its own, but it also opens up possibilities for decades of further reading. . . . Like a raucous party, with some squabbling going on in the darker corners. . . . Showalter’s prose is lively, and she has no problem expressing her opinions . . . A Jury of Her Peers is especially useful at introducing lost novels . . . She also unearths some lesser-known works by well-known writers: Who knew that Julia Ward Howe, author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, also wrote a novel about a hermaphrodite?” –Margaret Quamme, The Columbus Dispatch

“Exhilarating, provocative, revelatory, magisterial. The 350-year span of A Jury of Her Peers takes in more than 250 writers and covers sweeping tides of history and social change. It’s a long book, but it doesn’t feel long at all because it is so full of information, ideas, stories, and characters. The celebrated get their due . . . and so do the forgotten.” –Katha Pollitt, Slate

“[A] grand new work of literary history. . . . Two things make it a critical stand out: First, there’s Showalter’s commitment to gathering both high and lowbrow writers together in one place and, thus, giving us a different sense of literary history . . . Even more crucial to the value–and certainly, the incendiary potential of this book–is Showalter’s bossy critical presence throughout its pages . . . She opines, with zest, on the personalities and books of the writers here. . . . I do relish her critical gusto and guts. . . . Showalter has inspired me. . . . The unorthodox intelligence with which Showalter discusses the work of a cavalcade of American woman writers make a literary history like A Jury of Her Peers–which some would regard as an old-fashioned project–its own critical excuse for being." –Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air

“Impressively researched. . . . Generous, thought-provoking. . . . [Showalter is] less polarized and more nuanced than other feminist critics of her generation . . . She is a lively and incisive guide, the perfect Virgil for our quest." –Meghan O’Rourke, The Washington Post

“[A] vast democratic volume . . . . The entries are brisk, informative . . . . [The] vivid portraits of women’s lives are extremely readable and enlightening . . . . Her short, incisive biographies offer a glimpse into the exotic travails of the past and the eternal concerns of female experience . . . [A] ranging, inclusive history . . . . likely to become an important and valuable resource for anyone interested in women’s history.” –Kate Roiphe, The New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice

“Clear-sighted, ambitious . . . minutely researched and rich with opinion, anecdotes, samples, and interpretation. . . . Monumental.” –Lisa Shea, Elle

“Absorbing. . . . excellent. . . . insightful. . . . The prose is so good that the 500-plus-page book also works as an absorbing cover-to-cover read. . . . Showalter does not try to force any of these writers into uncomfortable slots in any kind of artificial female pantheon. These writers are all individuals, and Showalter treats them as such.” –Marjorie Kehe, The Christian Science Monitor



“Elaine Showalter has delivered the first literary history of American women ever published, and the result is a riveting journey with scarcely a becalmed page . . . rich, readable . . . an immensely valuable work . . . vibrant regardless of where one dips in.” –Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett, The Seattle Times

“Accessible and readable. Brimming with wit and insight . . . What makes this blend of biography, history and criticism so interesting is it doesn’t just include the usual suspects such as Willa Cather and Toni Morrison. It also features forgotten and obscure writers including the likes of both Catherine Sedgwick, an early novelist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Susan Glaspell. This monumental book will greatly enrich our understanding of American literary history and our culture.” –Larry Cox, Tuscon Citizen, Recommended New Title

 
Elaine Showalter, a professor emerita at Princeton University, is the author of numerous books, including the groundbreaking A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Brontë to Lessing. A frequent radio and TV commentator in the United Kingdom, she has chaired the Man Booker International prize jury and judged the National Book Awards and the Orange Prize. She divides her time between Washington, D.C., and London.