`I have written about women whose stories fascinate, perplex and inspire me. These women are rule-breakers who followed their own path, who were determined to experience love, achievement and fame; who wanted their lives to matter; who changed the future. All of these women lived before their time, trying to work, think, love, mother, even die, in ways that were in advance of what their societies approved or allowed.' Elaine Showalter

Inventing Herself is an account of women, from the eighteenth century to the present, who lived life on a grand scale. Elaine Showalter uncovers the lives of feminist intellectuals, focusing on figures ranging from Mary Wollstonecraft to Camille Paglia, her sources as diverse as A Vindication of the Rights of Women and Scream 2 . She also scrutinizes the fragmenting feminism of the nineties - neo-conservative backlash, Paglia whiplash, Wolfian eyelash - and addresses the dreams and aspirations of women who do not see themselves as part of the feminist movement. In conclusion, she shows how the intellectual standard for modern feminists has been compromised by the spectre of celebrity.