The Research Productivity of Scientists: How Gender, Organization Culture, and the Problem Choice Process Influence the Productivity of Scientists, by Robert Leslie Fisher (University Press of America, 2005)

Robert Leslie Fisher, in his book, The Research Productivity of Scientists: How Gender, Organization Culture, and the Problem Choice Process Influence the Productivity of Scientists, explores the relationships between research productivity, problem choice, and gender in the context of the "gender gap" in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Fisher argues from the outset that scientists' selection of research problems is never completely autonomous or individual, but rather part of a social and political context that cannot be ignored. He does not disagree with the literature that highlights the role a scientist's gender can play in research problem selection.

However, Fisher's focus is predominantly on the organizational, not individual, level. He argues that problem choice is "culturally determined," impacted not only by a personal interest in the "characteristics of the problem . . . but also the characteristics of the entire choice situation, including . . . the gender of the principal researcher and the organizational culture of the setting in which the problem choice is made." Fisher notes that while many external factors—funding, demand, politics—influence both men and women scientists, his own research indicates "women have experienced more interference in their professional work than men." His findings reinforce existing literature that demonstrates how women in STEM fields are judged differently than the male colleagues—that they often have to be more productive, methodologically meticulous, and accomplished in order to be seen even as equals.

Fisher's research differs from many climate studies by emphasizing the role that external constraints on problem choice—on what is studied—play in women's autonomy and advancement. The "chilly" climate not only creates unwelcoming environments and disparate evaluation standards, but also directly influences and interferes with the research problems women scientists are able to pursue. Research problem selection in turn directly intersects with productivity. Fisher also analyzes the impact of increased interference at multiple stages of the research process on women scientists' productivity, arguing that it serves to perpetuate a culture heavily informed by gender biases.

The Research Productivity of Scientists, while occasionally repetitious and unevenly written, provides an important and unique take on the causes and perpetuation of the "gender gap" in the STEM fields, and provides a nice complement to the feminist science and sociology of science literature that documents and analyzes the relationships between gender, socialization, climate, and scientific research.

Reviewed by Amy N. Addams

Zora Neale Hurston and American Literary Culture, by M. Genevieve West (University Press of Florida, 2005)

West sets herself a straightforward, yet difficult task in Zora Neale Hurston and American Literary Culture—to chronicle and explain the author's rise in the Harlem Renaissance, her subsequent marginalization due to a hostile critical reception (mostly from African-American male literary figures), her slide into near oblivion, and her eventual entry into the literary canon. To accomplish her goal, West must navigate the complicated terrain where the politics of race, gender, class, and art intersect with popular taste, commercial endeavor, and reputation. She argues persuasively that Hurston's personality, life story, and political ideas created bias and fed perceptions that she was an opportunist more interested in her own success than in artistic integrity or the politics of race in interwar America. She also convincingly describes Hurston's publisher's marketing campaign as exploitative and mired in racial stereotype. Less convincing is West's argument that white critics and supporters praised her talents exclusively because her worked tapped into the discourse of minstrelsy and so was considered safe. Could such individuals have possessed a genuine and prescient appreciation for the lasting quality and interest in Hurston's writing—an appreciation that would be more widely shared as memory of the author's personality receded and racial and gender politics changed?

Ultimately, this study provides an interesting and valuable approach to Hurston's work that would have benefited from a fuller treatment of the writer within the context of the broader American literary culture suggested in the title. A comparative approach to marketing of other works, for example, as well as the critical and commercial success (or failure) of other canonical writers from the period would have made it easier to determine if the author's suggestive conclusions—based as they are on the works of relatively few hostile reviewers and racist copywriters—are definitive.

Reviewed by Kevin Hovland.

The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy, by Allan G. Johnson (Temple University Press, 2005)

In this revised and updated edition of his 1997 book The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy, Allan Johnson takes on the system. The work is both a diagnosis of the problems inherent in the world's patriarchal system and a prescription for change. Divided into three sections, the book begins with Johnson's definition of patriarchy as a system that both affects and is affected by those living in it, men and women alike. According to him, the key is in the culture of control and fear that exists among men and in which women participate as objects of that control.

Having established the fundamentals of patriarchy, the next section of the book explores some of the ways in which the system is protected, excused, or ignored by those participating in it. Johnson describes a variety of opposing arguments, explaining both the context that leads to a particular way of thinking and why the argument is false. Finally, having established how patriarchy is built and supported, the book's third section serves as a first step towards breaking it down. This is done through providing examples of concrete actions and advice on avoiding guilt and blame, and through advocating the necessity for taking a long-term view in the fight against the patriarchal system.

Although it deals with a broad subject, Johnson's book provides a surprisingly comprehensive and accessible view of a highly complex social system. He accomplishes this in part by being simultaneously universal and personal in his discussion of patriarchy. While he addresses the system as a whole, he also clearly connects that system to the everyday experiences of his readers through a variety of examples that serve to anchor his more theoretical arguments in real human experience. This is particularly true of the most important section of the book—the recommendations for action. In advising his readers that fighting patriarchy is an enormous but not impossible challenge, he advocates "little risks"—practical, if not always easy, ways in which individuals can make a difference. In the end, the book is successful because it establishes patriarchy as more than a woman's problem or man's fault. Johnson makes it clear that patriarchy is a human concern and that everyone must take responsibility for changing the system.

Reviewed by Gretchen Sauvey.