Synopses & Reviews
andldquo;I realize that I am a soldier of production whose duties are as important in this war as those of the man behind the gun.andrdquo; So began the pledge that many home front men took at the outset of World War II when they went to work in the factories, fields, and mines while their compatriots fought in the battlefields of Europe and on the bloody beaches of the Pacific. The male experience of working and living in wartime America is rarely examined, but the story of men like these provides a crucial counter-narrative to the national story of Rosie the Riveter and GI Joe that dominates scholarly and popular discussions of World War II.
In Meet Joe Copper, Matthew L. Basso describes the formation of a powerful, white, working-class masculine ideology in the decades prior to the war, and shows how it thrivedandmdash;on the job, in the community, and through union politics. Basso recalls for us the practices and beliefs of the first- and second-generation immigrant copper workers of Montana while advancing the historical conversation on gender, class, and the formation of a white ethnic racial identity. Meet Joe Copper provides a context for our ideas of postwar masculinity and whiteness and finally returns the men of the home front to our reckoning of the Greatest Generation and the New Deal era.
Review
I think this book is of continuing importance and relevance. Pioneering when it first appeared, it has inspired many to look further into many of the topics it explores and continues to be essential reading for anyone seeking a grounding in the field. I am always amazed to see new studies emerge that are, in many respects, further elaborations of astute observations Kimmel made years agoEL I cannot imagine a course on American masculinities that did not assign Manhood in America as required reading. It's that essential. -Christopher Forth, University of Kansas
I am quite loyal to this book-it is accessible to undergraduate students but is not simplified at the expense of key concepts and historical change. I have not been able to find a book that does what Manhood in America does in such a clear and compelling fashion. -Dennis Deslippe, Franklin and Marshall College
It's comprehensive without being pedantic. One of the thing that makes it so appealing is the way culture, politics, history, the arts, etc., are brought into the discussion. [I mean, the subtitle is "A cultural history," but the integration feels natural, and the argument does build up, layer by layer, in each of these cultural domains. The size of it makes it a whole lot less intimidating to undergrads than the (hardback) 1st editionEL. I feel like a Mormon missionary: having spent a couple years out convincing folks that theirs is the true religion, they're supposed to be stronger in their faith than before their mission. After writing about this book, I'm excited at the possibility of putting it to use in the classroom. --Mark Riddle, University of Northern Colorado
The writing style is superb. It is 'wonderfully readable,' meaning that it is crisp, clear, written in an interesting and engaging way, and often quite wittyELA highly readable and illuminating cultural history and meditation on the notion of self-made manhood and its impact on the construction of American masculinity over the past 200 years. -Nelson Rodriguez, the College of New Jersey
A new edition would obviously need to be updated with recent historical events, specifically the 2008 electionELAlso, I think an updated version would need to take seriously how global politics, recent immigration issues, and the current recession are shaping manhood in AmericaELThe text serves as a perfect teaching tool for relaying how masculinities are socially and historically constructed. I use this text at the beginning of each semester of my Masculinities seminar and constantly refer back to it. -Dana Berkowitz, Louisiana State University
The approach is a thorough and complex cultural exploration of white, heterosexual, Christian, middle class masculinity. The book is fabulous, brilliant and much needed. I just think we need more about the 'othered' masculinities or more of an acknowledgement of the privilege and specificity associated with 'American masculinity. -Ami Lynch, George Washington University
"Manhood in America is a much needed exploration into that vast and neglected territory: the history of the American man. Michael Kimmel's meticulous research delves into everything from military psychiatric reports to Victorian boys' advice manuals, and surfaces with a thought-provoking and original account of American manhood's troubled stumbling path into modern times."--Susan Faludi, author of Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women
"Pioneering when it first appeared, this book has inspired many to look further into the topics it explores and continues to be essential reading for anyone seeking a grounding in the field. I am always amazed to see new studies emerge that are, in many respects, further elaborations of astute observations Kimmel made years ago.EL I cannot imagine a course on American masculinities that did not assign Manhood in America as required reading. It's that essential."--Christopher Forth, University of Kansas
Review
and#8220;The best book of the history of U.S. labor, and one of the best on masculinity, to appear in years.and#8221;
Review
"This well-written book centers on the historical experiences of workers, women, and people of color in a regional home-front context during WW II. As such, it meets the need for more scholarship on the home front during the war. Recent trends in US social history regarding the relationship between identity formation and relations of power greatly influence the book. Basso describes the formation of a powerful, white, working-class masculine ideology in the decades prior to WWII, and shows how it thrived on the job, in the community, and through union politics. Basso recalls the practices and beliefs of the first- and second-generation immigrant copper workers of Montana while advancing the historical conversation on gender, class, and the formation of a white ethnic racial identity."
Review
and#8220;A sophisticated, ambitious, well-written book.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Meet Joe Copper provides a rich glimpse into the formation of masculinity in a time and place where white male prerogative came under challenge at local, state, and national levels. Bassoand#8217;s analysis of the mining communities of Montana displays the interaction of race and gender and charts competing elements that formed a mutating masculinity.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Meet Joe Copper makes an important contribution to our understanding of the home front experience in the United States during World War II by showing that the received national narrative was more complex than commonly believed, at least in some places and some industries.and#8221;
Review
andldquo;Matthew L. Bassoandrsquo;s evidence and interpretations regarding the significance of masculinity to the values, actions, and concerns of working class civilian men in Montanaandrsquo;s copper industry substantially revise our understandings of the middle decades of the twentieth century.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Rosie the Riveter, move over! Here comes Joe Copper in a theoretically sophisticated, widely researched, and ever-engaging history that uncovers the making of gender and race. In this powerful labor and community history of the mines and smelters, Italian, Croatian, and Irish men struggled with management over the hiring of nonmales and nonwhites as much as over their workload and pay. After Matthew L. Basso, andlsquo;the greatest generationandrsquo; must include home front menandmdash;their representations as well as actions, their subjectivities along with their prejudices. World War II will never look the same again.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Meet Joe Copper is an impressively detailed labor history that engages with recent theory about whiteness and masculinity. Its importance to American mining history is clear; although women on the home front have gained much attention in popular narratives about WWII, seldom has anyone analyzed male production workers like Montanaandrsquo;s andlsquo;copper commandos.andrsquo; . . . Basso manages to craft a story that is both careful in its attention to detail and sweeping in its implications.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Basso successfully traces a narrative of World War II gender and race politics that runs contrary to the national narrative and demonstrates that wartime and postwar power relations were rooted in decades-old gender and racial-ethnic hierarchies.andrdquo;
Synopsis
For more than three decades, the women's movement and its scholars have exhaustively studied women's complex history, roles, and struggles. In
Manhood in America, Third Edition, author Michael Kimmel argues that it is time for men to rediscover their own evolution. Drawing on a myriad of sources,he demonstrates that American men have been eternally frustrated by their efforts to keep up with constantly changing standards. Kimmel contends that men must follow the lead of the women's movement; it is only by mining their past for its best qualities and worst excesses that men will free themselves from the constraints of the masculine ideal.
The third edition discusses such timely topics as post-9/11 politics, "self-made" masculinities (including those of Internet entrepreneurs), presidential campaigns, and gender politics. It also covers contemporary debates about fatherlessness, the biology of male aggression, and pop psychologists like John Gray and Dr. Laura. Outlining the various ways in which manhood has been constructed and portrayed in America, this engaging history is ideal as a main text for courses on masculinity or as a supplementary text for courses in gender studies and cultural history.
About the Author
Michael Kimmel is Professor of Sociology at Stony Brook University, State University of New York. A leading researcher and writer on gender and men and masculinity, he is the author of numerous books and articles, including
The Gendered Society, Fourth Edition (OUP, 2010),
The Gendered Society Reader, Fourth Edition (with Amy Aronson, OUP, 2010), and
Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men (2009).
Table of Contents
List of IllustrationsAcknowledgments
INTRODUCTION / GI Joe and Rosie the Riveter, Meet Joe Copper!
PART I: WHITE LABOR, 1882and#8211;1940
ONE / Butte: and#8220;Only White Men and Dagoesand#8221;
TWO / Black Eagle: Immigrantsand#8217; Bond
THREE / Anaconda: and#8220;Husky Smeltermenand#8221; and and#8220;Company Boysand#8221;
PART II: COPPER MEN AND THE CHALLENGES OF THE EARLY WAR HOME FRONT
FOUR / Redrafting Masculinity: Breadwinners, Shirkers, or and#8220;Soldiers of Productionand#8221;
FIVE / The Emerging Labor Shortage: Independent Masculinity, Patriotic Demands, and the Threat of New Workers
PART III: MAKING THE HOME FRONT SOCIAL ORDER
SIX / Butte, 1942: White Men, Black Soldier-Miners, and the Limits of Popular Front Interracialism
SEVEN / Black Eagle, 1943: Home Front Servicemen, Women Workers, and the Maintenance of Immigrant Masculinity
EIGHT / Anaconda, 1944: White Women, Men of Color, and Cross-Class White Male Solidarity
CONCLUSION / The Man in the Blue-Collar Shirt: The Working Class and Postwar Masculinity
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Index