The Young Rebecca

Book excerpt: A collection of Rebecca West’s early journalistic writings reveals her clarity of mind, severity of wit, and relevancy in today’s modern world In this collection of early writings, beginning when Rebecca West was just eighteen years old, Jane Marcus sheds light on one of the foremost feminist and political thinkers of our time. West’s essays, reviews, and public correspondence tackle many subjects, including politics, suffrage, education, morality and ethics, the arts, and social figures of the day. Her writings offer a glimpse of the real Rebecca—not some stuffy suffragette, but a vibrant, funny, provocative, and brilliant woman whose determined pen strokes outwit her contemporaries and remain inspiring today. A feminist to the core, West parried with her readers, other writers, and a culture slow to accept change. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Rebecca West featuring rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the Department of Special Collections and University Archives, McFarlin Library, at the University of Tulsa.