In this unique and essential collection, Katha Pollit, Patricia Williams, Barbara Ehrenreich, Jill Nelson, Vandana Shiva, and a host of other frontline thinkers, journalists, and activists employ wit, outrage, and cold, hard facts to expose the comprehensive incursion into women’s rights. Taking stock of Bush-era policies at home and abroad, the writers in this book measure the gap between the women-friendly rhetoric and the deadly realities happening as a result of Bush era policies—what editor Laura Flanders calls “The W Effect.” Both a harsh reality check and a hopeful starting point for new action, The W Effect brings together today’s premier feminist voices to provide cutting-edge reports; fresh, empowering analysis; and engaging, provocative ideas for the future.

As their work demonstrates, women around the globe have come under increasing attack in the new millennium, both literally, in the case of war, incarceration, and punitive repression, and more subtly, in the case of eroded rights and lost economic ground. The W Effect puts together the pieces: tax cuts and a marriage initiative for welfare recipients, civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq and a militarized United States, Title IX under siege and macho political posturing for the media, and yes, Roe v. Wade threatened and the return of the international gag rule.

A necessary book for anyone interested in current politics, for feminists of all ages and genders, for the activist community, for general readers, and for students, The W Effect provides the real information women need—and can’t find in the mainstream media—about their rights and their future.