Women in the Academy: Dialogues on Themes from Plato's Republic

C.D.C. Reeve serves up a creative and provocative slice of philosophy with this slim volume. Women in the Academy is a collection of five original dialogues--"Women," "Art," "Justice," "Forms," and "Freedom"--instigated by two women of ancient Athens who are reputed to have been students in Plato's academy. The first exchange opens with one woman telling Plato she wants to talk with him about women. "I'm not sure I know much about them," he responds. And that's perfect justification for Reeve's book.

While Plato's dialogues offer meditations on a host of subjects, they are mostly silent on the subject of women. Reeve fills in the blanks, when the two women engage Plato, and later Aristotle, in a series of dialogues that read like classical philosophy with a contemporary twist. Women in the Academy is a great supplement to Plato for first-time students and a wry twist on a classic for those familiar with him. --Eric de Place