"The characters she played were women to be reckoned with," writes cultural historian M.G. Lord in The Accidental Feminist (amazon.com), a suprising exploration of the decidedly feminist roles (in National Velvet, Buttefield 8, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf) Elizabeth Taylor was famous for. "And many of her roles—the great and not-so-great—surreptiously brought feminist issues to American audiences held captive by those violet eyes and that epic beauty."