print“The strength of ideas rests on their relationship to reality. Mackinnon’s unrealistic fulminations against a phantom patriarchy exist in the arid arena of pure thought. There are places where Catharine Mackinnon might pursue her métier more productively. Decamping to Darfur is one option—her work will have relevance there.”
This is an excerpt from my withering review of Catharine Mackinnon’s Women’s Lives, Men’s Laws is in The American Conservative’s end-of-the-year issue. Writer Rob Stove tells me that my “philippic,” entitled “MacKinnon’s Textual Harassment,” demonstrates that “MacKinnon is clearly even ghastlier than [he’d] imagined.” Purchase the magazine—it will remain in shops well into January—and be sure to check out Rob’s “Beethoven piece,” which appears alongside mine.