Heartbreak

"Always innovative, often controversial, and frequently polarizing, Andrea Dworkin has carved out a unique position as one of the women's movement's most influential figures, from the early days of consciousness-raising to the "post-feminist" present. A tireless defender of women's rights, especially of the rights of those who have been raped and assaulted, and a relentless critic of pornography, Dworkin is one of feminism's most rigorous minds and fiercest crusaders.". "In Heartbreak, she reveals for the first time the personal side of her lifelong journey as activist and writer. By turns wry, spirited, and poignant, Dworkin tells the story of how she evolved from a childhood lover of music and books into a college activist, embraced her role as an international advocate for women, and emerged as a maverick thinker at odds with both the liberal left and the mainstream women's movement. The chronicle of a special life and its times, Heartbreak reveals the emotional price paid by a person who, from the age of six onwards, finds it impossible to compromise. Readers across the political spectrum will be engrossed by Dworkin's memories: refusing to sing Silent Night in grammar school, falling in love with books as a teenager at the local bookstore, fighting to rid Bennington College of parietals, giving away her money on the Orient Express en route to Crete, saving children in Amsterdam, speaking at a battered friend's funeral, fighting for sex workers at a NOW meeting in New Orleans."--BOOK JACKET.