This book investigates the historical and philosophical construction of the 'sublime' and how it has been used to define, exclude, or marginalize human difference. Christine Battersby, a scholar of aesthetics and feminist philosophy, examines how traditional philosophical frameworks—particularly those from the Enlightenment—have historically positioned the 'sublime' as a masculine domain while relegating women and other 'others' to the realm of the mundane or the irrational. By analyzing the works of figures like Kant and Burke, she argues that these aesthetic categories are not neutral but are deeply embedded in power dynamics that shape modern conceptions of identity and humanity.

Experts in feminist philosophy and aesthetics recognize this text as a rigorous intervention into the canon of Western thought. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which requires a strong background in philosophical terminology to fully grasp the author's arguments.