Selected from Catharine R. Stimpson's storied career as a public intellectual, these essays distill the ideas and values that enable individuals and societies to thrive.

Stimpson is a legend in the fields of women and gender studies, a pioneer of 20th-century feminist thought and activism, and founding editor of the most prestigious journal in the field of women's studies, Signs. This essay collection brings together new work alongside published articles and public lectures, all of which provide crucial insights about the most pressing issues of our time, including civil rights, academic freedom, and gender politics.

In her opening essay, Stimpson reflects on the fear of being a monster – primarily, but not only, as a monster of gender rebellion – and on the ways that embracing her monstrosity has become an abiding strength. This strength fuels her writing about the health of democratic societies and the essential role that literature and culture play in creating a healthy society. Why do societies thrive with the freedoms of both thought and speech? What is a good education and does it need diversity? Why are feminist insights into sex and gender so vital?

As a scholar, an activist, and a self-described “skeptical Utopianist,” Stimpson takes a long view of the issues and problems that continue to shape our modern world. On Being a Monster explores these complicated issues in accessible prose, marked by clarity, wit, compassion – and a surprising optimism.