From modern literature to menopause, from utopian thought to rodeos—in this classic collection of essays, Ursula K. Le Guin roves with her customary audacity over the intersecting arenas of literature, feminism, and social responsibility, exploding any received notions she comes across and revealing visionary possibilities in their stead.

Le Guin is an authentic, wise woman, remembering, performing, and passing on the ancient ceremony of celebration, dancing “the dance of renewal, the dance that made the world”—and in this collection, she does so with wit and eloquence that make for exhilarating listening.