bell hooks (b. 1951) is mainly known as a feminist thinker, although her writings cover a broad range of topics on gender, race, teaching and the significance of media for contemporary culture. She is Distinguished Professor of English at City College in New York.

• Introduction: The Heartbeat of Cultural Revolution 1. Power to the Pussy - We Don't Wannabe Dicks in Drag 2. Altars of Sacrifice - Re-Membering Basquiat 3. What's Passion Got to Do with It ? An Interview with Marie-France Alderman 4. Seduction and Betrayal - The Crying Game Meets The Bodyguard 5. Censorship from Left and Right 6. Talking Sex - Beyond the Patriarchal Phallic Imaginary 7. Camille Paglia - 'Black' Pagan or White Colonizer 8. Dissident Heat - Fire with Fire 9. Katie Roiphe - A Little Feminist Excess Goes a Long Way 10. Seduced by Violence No More 11. Gangsta Culture - Sexism and Misogyny - Who Will Take the Rap 12. Ice Cube Culture - A Shared Passion for Speaking Truth 13. Spending Culture - Marketing the Black Underclass 14. Spike Lee Doing Malcolm X - Denying Black Pain 15. Seeing and Making Culture - Representing the Poor 16. Back to Black - Ending Internalized Racism 17. Malcolm X - The Longed-For Feminist Manhood 18. Columbus - Gone but Not Forgotten 19. Moving into and beyond Feminism - Just for the Joy of It 20. Love as the Practice of Freedom

'The reader discovers ... that bell hooks is a joy to read, her work a nimbly written hybrid form of social commentary, by turns personal, political, and in-your-face.' - San Francisco Chronicle Examiner'Outlaw Culture should be read, regardless of whether one agrees with feminism as presented by hooks. hooks raises critical issues that all should find engaging as well as challenging!' - Real African World, Bridgitt Mwamini Robertson'She brings to the task of cultural criticism an astute eye and a courageous spirit ... Hers is a voice that forces us to confront the political undercurrents of life in America.' - New York Times Book Review'hooks' style is refreshingly brash and accessible and often inflected by personal experience. Readers may contest her politics, yet few will be unmoved by the spirit that animates these essays; a desire to rethink cultural institutions that sustain racism, sexism, and other systems of political oppression.' - Publishers' Weekly