A study of the worldwide community of fans of Star Trek and other genre television series who create and distribute fiction and art based on their favorite series. This community includes people from all walks of life—housewives, librarians, secretaries, and professors of medieval literature. Ninety percent of its members are women.

"Enterprising Women offers a picture of one of the few models around for female community and self-affirmation. Rather than accepting the passive female images and consumer values purveyed by most TV shows, women fan-fiction writers have adapted television to their own purposes." - Women's Review of Books

"Bacon-Smith's many years of skillful ethnographic research and lucid prose help nonfans understand the cultural and theoretical significance of the fan-produced fiction, artwork, and social relations that make fandom so cohesive and critically essential to its members. . . . Both males and females in communications, sociology, ethnography, psychology, and women's studies will benefit from this fine book." - Choice