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Subject to Debate: Sense and Dissents on Women, Politics, and Culture
Subject to Debate, Katha Pollitt's column in The Nation , has offered readers clear-eyed yet provocative observations on women, politics, and culture for more than seven years. Bringing together eighty-eight of her most astute essays on hot-button topics like abortion, affirmative action, and school vouchers, this selection displays the full range of her indefatigable wit and brilliance. Her stirring new Introduction offers a seasoned critique of feminism at the millennium and is a clarion call for renewed activism against social injustice.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
6 people are currently reading
254 people want to read
About the author
Katha Pollitt
23 books88 followersKatha Pollitt is well known for her wit and her keen sense of both the ridiculous and the sublime. Her Subject to Debate column, which debuted in 1995 and which the Washington Post called “the best place to go for original thinking on the left,” appears every other week in the Nation; it is frequently reprinted in newspapers across the country. In 2003, Subject to Debate won the National Magazine Award for Columns and Commentary. Katha is also a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at the Nation Institute.
Many of Katha’s contributions to the Nation are compiled in three books: Reasonable Creatures: Essays on Women and Feminism (Knopf); Subject to Debate: Sense and Dissents on Women, Politics, and Culture (Modern Library); and Virginity or Death! And Other Social and Political Issues of Our Time (Random House). In 2007, Random House published her collection of personal essays, Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories.
Katha has also written essays and book reviews for the New Yorker, the Atlantic, the New Republic, Harper’s, Ms., Glamour, Mother Jones, the New York Times, and the London Review of Books. She has appeared on NPR’s Fresh Air and All Things Considered, Charlie Rose, The McLaughlin Group, CNN, Dateline NBC, and the BBC. Her work has been republished in many anthologies and is taught in many university classes.
Katha has received a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a Guggenheim Fellowship for her poetry. Her 1982 book Antarctic Traveller won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her poems have been published in many magazines and are reprinted in many anthologies, most recently The Oxford Book of American Poetry (2006). Her second collection, The Mind-Body Problem, was published by Random House in 2009.
Born in New York City, Katha was educated at Harvard and the Columbia University School of the Arts. She has lectured at dozens of colleges and universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brooklyn College, UCLA, the University of Mississippi, and Cornell. She has taught poetry at Princeton, Barnard, and the 92nd Street Y, and women’s studies at the New School University.
Many of Katha’s contributions to the Nation are compiled in three books: Reasonable Creatures: Essays on Women and Feminism (Knopf); Subject to Debate: Sense and Dissents on Women, Politics, and Culture (Modern Library); and Virginity or Death! And Other Social and Political Issues of Our Time (Random House). In 2007, Random House published her collection of personal essays, Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories.
Katha has also written essays and book reviews for the New Yorker, the Atlantic, the New Republic, Harper’s, Ms., Glamour, Mother Jones, the New York Times, and the London Review of Books. She has appeared on NPR’s Fresh Air and All Things Considered, Charlie Rose, The McLaughlin Group, CNN, Dateline NBC, and the BBC. Her work has been republished in many anthologies and is taught in many university classes.
Katha has received a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a Guggenheim Fellowship for her poetry. Her 1982 book Antarctic Traveller won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her poems have been published in many magazines and are reprinted in many anthologies, most recently The Oxford Book of American Poetry (2006). Her second collection, The Mind-Body Problem, was published by Random House in 2009.
Born in New York City, Katha was educated at Harvard and the Columbia University School of the Arts. She has lectured at dozens of colleges and universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brooklyn College, UCLA, the University of Mississippi, and Cornell. She has taught poetry at Princeton, Barnard, and the 92nd Street Y, and women’s studies at the New School University.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 19, 2025
This book had bits and pieces of substance but I did not find it an enjoyable or intellectually engaging read. I actually have a bit of a bad taste in my mouth as I write it due to the amount of disappointment I have regarding it. I had to push myself so hard to finish this which is sad.
May 13, 2019
Fantastic. Everyone should read this. Just as relevant today as it was when originally written.
July 17, 2022
When this book was published, the 90s were in full swing. However, even if one were to assume this book is dated, the issues within are still prevalent today. Gay marriage rights and lack of universal healthcare are still huge issues we are dealing with today. I know that history repeats itself, because what this book is about - the same problems are here today.
There was very little in this book that I disagreed with if anything. The writing is clear and the author writes with amazing wit and progressive intellect with sarcasm sprinkled through out. It is an amazing read and it is exactly what I needed to get a better grasp on what is happening currently.
There was very little in this book that I disagreed with if anything. The writing is clear and the author writes with amazing wit and progressive intellect with sarcasm sprinkled through out. It is an amazing read and it is exactly what I needed to get a better grasp on what is happening currently.
March 28, 2010
Katha Pollitt’s Subject to Debate is another book, buried in one of my library book cases, that I never got around to reading. I was looking for a good piece of prose writing that would be both lightweight but engaging, and Pollitt’s collection of essays is precisely that.
Reading Subject to Debate means revisiting mostly the 1990s—the decade of Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, the OJ trial, "the end of welfare as we know it", the death of Prince Di, the Million Man March, the ongoing battle for abortion rights, etc.
Sadly you would think this collection is too dated and not worth the reading time, but unfortunately most of issues Pollitt wrote about back then are still with us today, including gay marriage rights, the assassination of abortion doctors, the lack universal health care, marginalization of the poor and women, political sex scandals, the illegal U.S. attack on Iraq, etc.
Pollitt writes with passion, humor, and insight about these issues that you wish she would either run for public office or that she‘d be required reading for at least all liberal and progressive politicians.
I hardly disagree with her about anything. She’s right on target about abortion rights, and she has sense of enough to know that capitalism and workers and women’s rights (though she never outright uses these words) are at the heart of much of what ills this country, and indeed the world.
I also turned to Pollitt for inspiration as a writer. She‘s an artists with words, and knows how to make sharp, pointed critiques of issues and do it with brevity, wit, and sometimes much needed sarcasm, in way that only a progressive intellectual can do. Writing a weekly column for the liberal Nation magazine no doubt helped her home down her skills and craft as a writer. However, as I completed one essay after another in about three days time, I often longed to see how she would unpack issues in longer pieces of writing. She could certainly write an entire, and much needed, book about abortion rights. And why not, no one else who is qualified seems to be doing so.
After reading this book, I’ve decided to keep with her weekly column for now on. I stopped reading The Nation years ago (it’s simply not far left enough for me), but Pollitt‘s insight on current events is one I would like to hear on a regular basis.
Reading Subject to Debate means revisiting mostly the 1990s—the decade of Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, the OJ trial, "the end of welfare as we know it", the death of Prince Di, the Million Man March, the ongoing battle for abortion rights, etc.
Sadly you would think this collection is too dated and not worth the reading time, but unfortunately most of issues Pollitt wrote about back then are still with us today, including gay marriage rights, the assassination of abortion doctors, the lack universal health care, marginalization of the poor and women, political sex scandals, the illegal U.S. attack on Iraq, etc.
Pollitt writes with passion, humor, and insight about these issues that you wish she would either run for public office or that she‘d be required reading for at least all liberal and progressive politicians.
I hardly disagree with her about anything. She’s right on target about abortion rights, and she has sense of enough to know that capitalism and workers and women’s rights (though she never outright uses these words) are at the heart of much of what ills this country, and indeed the world.
I also turned to Pollitt for inspiration as a writer. She‘s an artists with words, and knows how to make sharp, pointed critiques of issues and do it with brevity, wit, and sometimes much needed sarcasm, in way that only a progressive intellectual can do. Writing a weekly column for the liberal Nation magazine no doubt helped her home down her skills and craft as a writer. However, as I completed one essay after another in about three days time, I often longed to see how she would unpack issues in longer pieces of writing. She could certainly write an entire, and much needed, book about abortion rights. And why not, no one else who is qualified seems to be doing so.
After reading this book, I’ve decided to keep with her weekly column for now on. I stopped reading The Nation years ago (it’s simply not far left enough for me), but Pollitt‘s insight on current events is one I would like to hear on a regular basis.
December 4, 2008
I adore Katha Pollitt, and this collection of essays is predictably great, but it's definitely from the Clinton years. Her underlying arguments are all applicable to the current political climate, but since these essays come from her weekly/biweekly column in The Nation, they are very focused on events of the time - so it's not as satisfying as I'd hoped.
However, I'm very glad I read this in light of the changing administration, because her essays are a good reminder that Clinton, while now weirdly lionized by the left as an excellent president in retrospect, was extremely centrist and did more than most presidents of either party to dismantle our country's support systems for underserved populations.
Much of what President Obama will face is fallout from Clinton-era policies that festered during Bush's eight years, and it's important for progressive Democrats to remember this. As Pollitt encouraged in a recent Nation column, become more active in pushing for social change, as grassroots movements will be key in prioritizing a progressive agenda for the new administration; it's not a done deal now that he's elected.
However, I'm very glad I read this in light of the changing administration, because her essays are a good reminder that Clinton, while now weirdly lionized by the left as an excellent president in retrospect, was extremely centrist and did more than most presidents of either party to dismantle our country's support systems for underserved populations.
Much of what President Obama will face is fallout from Clinton-era policies that festered during Bush's eight years, and it's important for progressive Democrats to remember this. As Pollitt encouraged in a recent Nation column, become more active in pushing for social change, as grassroots movements will be key in prioritizing a progressive agenda for the new administration; it's not a done deal now that he's elected.
July 6, 2016
A collection of short essays, op-ed pieces really, written for The Nation from the early 90's to 2000. Pollitt is an amazing writer.
Many of her pieces deal with the politics of the Clinton years, which is pretty interesting to read over now. There are sharp, extremely opinionated and funnier than hell articles on welfare to workfare, deadbeat dads, affirmative action, divorce and marriage, sports, porn, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, creationists, abortion, Disney, gay marriage, and a lot more.
This isn't the kind of book you want to read all at once, though. But it's perfect if you read an essay every day or two.
Many of her pieces deal with the politics of the Clinton years, which is pretty interesting to read over now. There are sharp, extremely opinionated and funnier than hell articles on welfare to workfare, deadbeat dads, affirmative action, divorce and marriage, sports, porn, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, creationists, abortion, Disney, gay marriage, and a lot more.
This isn't the kind of book you want to read all at once, though. But it's perfect if you read an essay every day or two.
January 18, 2009
interesting collection of pollitt's nation essays from the early to late '90s. the articles are quite short and easy to read, but the sheer number of them makes the book a little tough to get through. even though her commentary is all very much related to events of the time, a lot of it is oddly relevant to today, such as her frustration with middle-of-the-road democrats and her fears about the erosion of abortion rights. i like her snarky tone. she seemed to develop quite a beef with paglia in the later years!
March 26, 2007
I wanted to really like this book, but I find her writing style hard to read sometimes.
December 18, 2008
people need to begin worshipping katha pollitt. that much is clear to me now.
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September 11, 2012Find this title on our shelves here: PS3566.O533 S83 2001
November 30, 2010
I'm an addict!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews