SOURCE: Bemis, Virginia T. Review of Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Culture, by Elaine Showalter. NWSA Journal 10, no. 1 (spring 1998): 172-73.

In the following review of Hystories, Bemis commends Showalter's historical overview of psychoanalytic theory, but objects to her “Eurocentric” view of millennial panic and her generalized, dismissive treatment of chronic fatigue and Gulf War syndrome.

Controversial books relating to Women's Studies reach the shelves fairly regularly. Some are picked up by the mass media, land their authors on the talk-show circuit, and occasion much debate outside the standard academic circles. In the past few years, we have seen Camille Paglia, Katie Roiphe and Christina Hoff Sommers follow this path, and their work has been used as ammunition by a wide variety of pundits. The latest book to follow along this road is Hystories, Elaine Showalter's study of hysterical epidemics.

Showalter has a distinguished record of literary scholarship from...