What a great piece of feminist writing! Not exactly what I was expecting in a book published in 1915. It starts out rather like an H. Rider Haggard novel (as I suppose it was intended to), with three young men adventuring far from home, spoiling for exploration. They have all the stereotypical male entitlement issues, but three very different personalities.
Terry is the “man's man" among them and Gilman sets him up as quite the piece of work. She must have someone specific in mind as she created him, because she takes such obvious pleasure in skewering this character. He is absolutely convinced of male supremacy, that women exist to be submissive and subservient. In short, he's a misogynist asshole. Jeff is the Southern gentleman who is depicted as being rather worshipful with regard to women, putting them on a pedestal. Van is midway between these two extremes, more intelligent, and much more reasonable. Gilman tests them all when they find themselves in custody in a matriarchal society.
Gilman depicts Herland as a real utopia, filled with reasonable, happy, hard working women. They reproduce parthenogenetically, limiting their numbers by will power (not allowing the urge to have child taking over their lives, distracting themselves through work). They are strong physically through plenty of outdoor activity, they are all invested in child rearing, and they all contribute willingly to their society. There were several facets of this situation that really didn't ring true to me. The whole birth control through distracting work is just too good to be true! If only it could be controlled so easily! But what I just couldn't fathom was the asexual nature of the society—they are descended from regular, sexually reproducing humans, yet had no libido whatsoever. No lesbianism, no strong sexual attraction to these three men who are dropped in their midst.
Obviously, the author is well acquainted with the mythological Amazons and is creating a female version of them. Literature written by men makes Amazons into sexual conquests, a bunch of women just waiting for men to arrive and fulfill them (or conquer them, which is understood to be much the same thing). Gilman's version are completely self sufficient and look at the men, especially Terry, with a jaundiced eye. She exposes femininity as a social construct designed to control women and masculinity as an excuse for male bad behaviour.
For a short novel, it packs in a lot of thoughtful ideas. Well worth your time should you choose to read it.
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