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Biography
American

Kate Millett

1934 — 2017

Kate Millett was an American feminist writer, sculptor, and activist whose book Sexual Politics (1970) was one of the founding texts of second-wave feminism. Her literary criticism of D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, and Norman Mailer — arguing that their fiction reflected and reinforced patriarchal power structures — changed how literature was read and discussed.

Past sales0
PeriodModern
NationalityAmerican
1. Biography

A short life of the author

Kate Millett (1934–2017) was born Katherine Murray Millett on 14 September 1934 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She studied at the University of Minnesota, Oxford, and Columbia.

Life and Career

Sexual Politics (1970) — originally her Columbia PhD dissertation — was a sensation. It argued that the personal is political, that literature by Lawrence, Miller, and Mailer celebrated sexual domination as a form of political control, and that patriarchy was the fundamental social structure. Time magazine put her on its cover.

Flying (1974) and Sita (1977) are confessional memoirs — about her fame, her bisexuality, and her relationships — that anticipate autofiction. The Loony-Bin Trip (1990) recounts her experiences with bipolar disorder and forced institutionalization.

Major Works and Themes

Millett wrote about power, sexuality, mental illness, and the politics of personal life. She was one of the most important feminist thinkers of the twentieth century.

Key Works

  • Sexual Politics (1970)
  • The Loony-Bin Trip (1990)

Collecting Millett

Sexual Politics first edition (Doubleday, 1970) in fine condition with dust jacket brings $50–$150. Her confessional memoirs are undervalued and increasingly sought. Millett died in 2017.