Ever since Hypatia came to Michigan State University almost two years ago, we have been struggling with an enormous backlog of previously commissioned and already written book reviews. This backlog has been so severe that as I write, in Spring of 2005, we still have not had room to print reviews of certain books that were published in 2001. My own book, Damaged Identities, Narrative Repair, is among them.

In despair, I have finally taken drastic measures to ensure that the books we review are recent enough for the reviews to be of use to our readers. Henceforward, in addition to commissioning many fewer reviews (a practice we began in 2003), those of books that came into print more than two years ago will not be published in the journal. Instead, we have posted them on the Hypatia Web site.

This decision has occasioned much soul searching, as I know how much effort and thought goes into writing book reviews. And (being one of them) I also know how frustrating my solution is to the authors of the books in question. I am truly sorry that no other way of solving the problem has presented itself.

Making it possible for authors with recently published books and the Hypatia readership to benefit from the more timely appearance of reviews will, I think, require only this single intervention; reviewers need not fear that work we commission in the future will become backlogged in its turn. I herewith cordially invite you to visit our Web site, http://www.msu.edu/~hypatia/, to catch up on your reading. And my thanks to you all for your kind understanding.