Marge Piercy's reputation as an important fiction writer began with the appearance of her first published novel, Going Down Fast, in 1969. Especially with Gone to Soldiers (1987) and City of Darkness, City of Light (1996), her genius for transforming his...

Marge Piercy epitomizes a feminist maxim: "The personal is political." In the essay "Mirror Images" (1980) Piercy writes, "My poetry appears to me at once more personal and universal than my fiction. My poetry is of a continuity with itself and with the...

Toy maker Mattel Inc. went to court Tuesday to declare that the name of its clean-cut Barbie dolls doesn't belong on a model's pornographic Web site.In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Mattel said the Web site for an adult entertainer named...

More than 700 toy factories in booming southern China have been banned from exporting what they produce as part of a crackdown on shoddy products, the government said Thursday.The four-month-long crackdown was triggered by widespread reports of dangerous or faulty Chinese exports, including toys tainted...

China is enforcing strict standards for its exports and will continue to work to regain consumer confidence in its products a top quality official said Wednesday.Li Changjiang, head of China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said officials have taken substantial measures to...

Today is Friday, April 27, the 117th day of 2007. There are 248 days left in the year.Today's Highlight in History:On April 27, 1805, during the First Barbary War, an American-led force of Marines and mercenaries captured the city of Derna, on the shores of...