[Below, Simms provides a favorable review of On the Perimeter.]

In March 1984, novelist Caroline Blackwood visited the Greenham Common women's peace camps for the first time. She was appalled by the conditions in which these women lived, and impressed by their courage and commitment. She decided to examine the impact of these camps, not on the internationalpeace movement nor on the women's movement, but on their immediate neighbours in and around the country town of Newbury where the camps are sited. She talked not only to the women themselves, but also to local residents, shopkeepers, members of local pressure groups, including RAGE (Ratepayers Against Greenham Encampments), and sat in the local magistrates' courts when some of the women were arrested.

She was astonished to find that ratepayers who objected to peace camps on both political and amenity grounds appeared to have no objection to the miles of concrete and tangled barbed wire that the missile bases had brought to their common. She also witnessed systematic abuse of the women by members of the armed forces stationed at Greenham, who were never restrained or disciplined by their officers into civilized behaviour. [On the Perimeter] must make even those who disagree with the Greenham women's political views pause to consider what kind of civilization it is that we are defending by these means. It should certainly be read and its implications considered by all who profess to have strong views about Cruise missiles, whatever side they are on.