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by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Author)
The first book of the classic feminist 'Herland trilogy', Charlotte Gilman's 'Moving the Mountain' was first published in 1911. It tells the tale of American John Robertson, a native of South Carolina, and student of ancient languages, who at the age of 25 travels to Tibet and, after an unfortunate accident, suffers complete memory loss. Thirty years later, in 1940, he is found by his sister Nellie, recovers his memory and returns to the United States. Much has altered since John left his native shore. Women have become emancipated, and have changed many aspects of society for the better: crime, poverty, prostitution, corruption and racism are no more. For John the culture shock is extreme - he retains the misogynist world-view of his youth, and finds equality of the sexes a bitter pill to swallow. Gilman skillfully uses John's (fictional) reactionary feelings to dissect and reject the (actual) domination and gender discrimination practiced by the men of her own time. A timely reminder of how far feminism has come - and altered - in the past 100 years.
