In prose that ranges from fierce to defensive, Anita Hill describes the saga of the Clarence Thomas nomination hearings, from her first impression of Thomas (''sincere, if a little brusque and unpolished'') to the appalling behavior of some senators who questioned her to the bomb threats and hate mail her testimony provoked. Hill smartly explains the intricacies of sexual- harassment charges, discusses subsequent cases like Tailhook, and draws analogies between racial and sexual discrimination. Part case history, part memoir of an Oklahoma farm girl turned lawyer who became a key figure in the gender wars, this is a wonderfully illuminating if sometimes numbingly earnest book. Hill has no trouble convincing the reader that, through it all, ''my conscience was clear.'' A-
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