This book covers the history of British feminist thought in a representative selection of essays on major themes by influential feminists in the British tradition. It shows that feminist thought in Britain has a clear identity, arising from its particular political and social formations. This identity is usefully compared throughout with the American and European traditions of feminist thought.The book moves from a consideration of feminist history, through the unhappy marriage of Marxism and feminism, issues of race and class, psychoanalysis, the family and housework, to the peculiarly British phenomenon of feminist criticism and research existing within the context of cultural studies. The case of Northern Ireland as an issue within British feminist thought is given particular attention. Terry Lovell's introductions to each section put the essays in their British political and international intellectual context.