The Zanzibar cat Book

Like any anthology, there are some stories that stand out, both good and not so good. To me, though, it's worth getting if only for one story: "When It Changed." I've been reading science-fiction -- please don't use that repellent term "sci-fi" (which, as Harlan Ellison says should be pronounced "Skiffy") -- since the early 60s, and firmly rank the story in my all-time top ten short stories.
Think about it: I've been reading sf for about fifty years, so that's the top ten out of one helluva lot of stories. And, even though the ending is less than positive, promising a potentially bleak future for the women of Whileaway, the opening line, "Katy drives like a maniac," always brings a smile to my face.

The title of the story is appropriate for me in two ways: It "changed" how I thought about science-fiction and its potential to call attention to social ills, and it "changed" how I thought about the way women were treated, not just in the genre I'd been reading for a decade, but in the world, in society as a whole. I'd been a liberal thinker for as long as I could remember, but women's issues had never been something I seriously thought about. I think two passages caused that change in my thinking.

First:

"Where are all the people?" said the monomaniac.
I realized then that he did not mean people. he meant men..."

and the last line, "Take my life, but don't take away the meaning of my life."

To me, they're still as powerful as they were when I first read them nearly four decades ago. I still read the story from time to time just in case I need a reminder.