It goes on,another chapter,another change. A highlight is editingMs in New York,which turns into a cautionary tale. Summers and her talented business partner Sandra Yates never quite understood America. A boycott from the religious right was one factor;another Gloria Steinem's inability to let go. It could have destroyed Summers,but she walked away,unshackled and unscathed.
Like a cat she landed on her feet with yet another plum job,with Paul Keating,employed initially to improve his image with women. She might have worked well with Hawke,but has real affection for Keating,as a man whose vision for Australia also empowered women. He offered her the job of Consul-General in New York,but she switched again,back to editingGood Weekend for Fairfax.
At this point she experienced the backlash against women in power,linked here to the experience of Joan Kirner in Victoria,but also the rise of John Howard. She does not call him a misogynist,but accuses him of a"war against women"alongside his fight against"political correctness". He enabled,she argues,both Pauline Hanson and the increasing incivility of public discourse. It took Julia Gillard to turn the tide,revitalise Australian feminism,but at a huge personal cost.
What has been the cost to Summers,it might be asked. She depicts herself as beleaguered at times,with a lack of specificity no doubt caused by the libel laws. She has no regrets about not being a mother:it would have made her life impossible. What she has is the long-standing love and support of Chip Rolley.
Unfettered shows a constant devotion to the word,primarily used in the cause of women. It is as notable as her continual reinvention,which in a late stage included being chair of the board of Greenpeace International for six years. The final words of the book are:"I am not yet finished and I never will be."
In the context of Summers'oeuvre,Unfettered is not as ground-breaking as her debut,andDucks is arguably superior. One day she will undoubtedly have her own biographer. In the meantime she provides a thoroughly edifying,even uplifting account of an extraordinary life with this second volume. And who knows,there is the energy and vitality here for a third.