If you have ever wondered as a woman writer what your place in the tradition is, or wondered how to ask the perennial chauvinist questions "well why aren't there more women writers?" this book will help resolve the questions in your own mind and arm you in arguments. The first 100 or so pages of this book are the strongest as far as rhetoric goes. The latter half is more along the lines of literary criticism. While Russ acknowledges the limits of her research and her argument (including an afterword of quotes by women of color), the book does focus on white women writing in English.

The hidden value of the book is the list of female writers who've been neglected in the canon and of suppressed works of writers who are praised for something else.

I recommend it to women writers, women creators, women, feminists, students of literature, fans of the gothic novel, and anyone who seriously wants to know the answer to "why aren't there more women writers?"