Talking Out of School: Memoir of an Educated Woman »

Kass Fleisher is an Assistant Professor in English and Creative Writing at Illinois State University. Her books include The Bear River Massacre and the Making of History, Talking out of School, The Adventurous, Accidental Species: A Reproduction, Dead Woman Hollow, and This Land So Fateful. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including The Iowa Review, Bombay Gin, Postmodern Culture, Z Magazine, and American Book Review.

This bitterly funny memoir reads like an exposé of the power structures in America’s higher education system: who’s got it, how they’re abusing it, what everyone else is willing to do to get it, and the social cost of doing educational business this way.

Karen Long - Library Journal

Fleisher, a creative writing instructor at Illinois State University, uses autobiographical sketches to paint a picture of what life is like for women in America's higher education system. While her main focus is gender issues, she also touches on other divisive forces, such as racism and homophobia. She raises good questions, such as, "...doesn't it make sense to think that racism will never disappear until sexism disappears?" Unfortunately, these relevant issues get muddled amid a subjective, scattered narrative. Fleisher isn't a bad writer; she does well with description, imagery, action, and irony. But her book might have more impact if she further emphasized the need to break down the walls of bureaucracy and corruption in higher education. Suitable only for select academic libraries.

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