Ellen Willis

Forty years ago, legal battles concerning nicotine addiction — and seductive cigarette advertising — presented a quandary for those who felt “people have a right to choose their poison.”

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“Suppose I had to confront every day, every hour, the question of which side I'm on? Such questions excite and disturb me.”

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“I think ‘Acid Test’ is a great book, certainly the best to come out of the ’60s… But there is something more: ‘Acid Test’ is about the whole sticky problem of optimism.”

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“Nearly four decades after it was first published in France... ‘The Second Sex’ remains the most cogent and thorough book of feminist theory yet written.”

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“No matter whose side history is on, Jews have always been expendable. And so long as we are expen­dable, to talk of ‘Jewish power’ is ob­scene.”

‘Two years ago, abortion was almost always discussed in feminist terms — as a political issue affecting the condition of women. Since then, the grounds of the debate have shifted drastically.’

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‘The new consensus is that the family is our last refuge; the idea that there could be desirable alternatives to the family is no longer taken seriously’

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