A collection of essays on works of literature, such as Salman Rushdie's controversial "Satanic Verses", and twentieth century thinkers, such as Jacques Derrida and Karl Marx. It questions and deconstructs power structures where ever they operate.

In this classic work, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, one of the leading and most influential cultural theorists working today, analyzes the relationship between language, women and culture in both Western and non-Western contexts.