Regiment of Women Author:Thomas Berger From the flap: The time is the twenty-first century. In New York City, the worst fears of "future shock" have become daily realities. There are constant Pollution Alerts when no buses run and the residents have to wear gas masks. The George Washington Bridge is in ruins and the Hudson River has become a sewage system separating New York and N... more »ew Jersey. Rent for a one-and-a-half-room apartment is $1500 a month; there are Detention Centers located throughout the city; and, most important, the aspirations of the most extreme feminine militants have finally been realized. The central character of Thomas Berger's new novel is a 29-year-old secretary with the publishing house of Philby, Osgood & Huff, Georgie Cornell, who goes to work neatly attired in a white tailored blouse and pleated skirt of kelly green, with beige pumps and matching purse. Georgie spends the day dodging the advances of a lecherous senior executive, clandestinely reading outlawed "dirty books," visiting the analyst, applying makeup--very much like secretaries of today. But there is one significant difference: Georgie Cornell is a man.
In _Regiment of Women_, Thomas Berger has created one of the most original conceits in contemporary fiction--ribald, surreal, and brilliantly comic. Shocking in its themes and startling in its implications, it touches the raw nerve of our most private fantasies. Thomas Berger has written a book no reader will ever forget.« less