"Catherine Villanueva Gardner's work provides a careful analysis of feminist philosophers in the utilitarian tradition. Fresh readings of old canonical favorites–Bentham and Mill–are complemented by the resurrection of long-forgotten philosophers–Anna Doyle Wheeler, Frances Wright, and Catharine Beecher. The book is more than an erudite expansion of the canon providing a gender-sensitive analysis of writings by marginalized women authors. It maps a central criterion for developing a properly feminist history of philosophy: namely, empowerment. Just how does a particular author and set of texts actually free women to participate more broadly in society?"
–Reverend John J. Conley, Loyola University