SOURCE: Boo, Katherine. “Taking Off the Velvet Gloves.” Washington Post Book World (28 November 1993): 1, 10.

In the following review of Fire with Fire, Boo finds Wolf's inclusive “power feminism” interesting, but concludes that her recommendations for change are inadequate, particularly as she fails to account for the economically disadvantaged.

Lordy, what a mess this manifesto [Fire with Fire] is. Proving that even feminists have the right to change their minds, it argues against much of what undergirded Wolf's bestselling Beauty Myth two years ago. It's so full of subtextual exclamation points it reads like an over-caffeinated Katie Couric. And it's so rich in contradiction that feminists from both the Camille Paglia and Katha Pollitt camps are surely sharpening pencil and claw as we speak. And yet—this call-to-arms, however bizarrely argued, makes a crucial, felt, contribution to recent feminist debate. For Wolf here has managed to break free of a...