Synopses & Reviews
During and especially after World War I, the millions of black-clad widows on the streets of Europes cities were a constant reminder that war caused carnage on a vast scale. But widows were far more than just a reminder of the wars fallen soldiers; they were literal and figurative actresses in how nations crafted their identities in the interwar era. In this extremely original study, Erika Kuhlman compares the ways in which German and American widows experienced their postwar status, and how that played into the cultures of mourning in their two nations: one defeated, the other victorious. Each nation used widows and war dead as symbols to either uphold their victory or disengage from their defeat, but Kuhlman, parsing both German and U.S. primary sources, compares widows lived experiences to public memory. For some widows, government compensation in the form of military-style awards sufficed. For others, their own deprivations, combined with those suffered by widows living in other nations, became the touchstone of a transnational awareness of the absurdity of war and the need to prevent it.
Review
“This volume shines a much needed light on the complexity of connections between crime, race, ethnicity, and immigration in the United States. Drawing on a distinguished group of experts on crime and immigration, Martinez and Valenzuela pull together a stimulating blend of perspectives and methods to address a topic that has been sadly neglected by researchers.”-Gary LaFree,author of Losing Legitimacy: Street Crime and the Decline of Social Institutions in America
Review
“Immigration and Crime is a terrific collection that debunks the stereotype of the Latino ‘criminal immigrant. The systematic and thorough quantitative and qualitative data in the book should provide pause and help shape a new policy agenda on immigration and crime.”
-Eduardo Bonilla-Silva,author of Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States
Review
Review
“Serves as a much needed wake up call to scholars, policy makers, and the general public.”
-Tim Wadsworth,University of Colorado, Boulder
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"This is a pathbreaking study, filling a major gap in our understanding of the way the wounds of war were inscribed on women's lives for decades after the Great War. Essential reading for all those drawn in increasing numbers to the Ur-catastrophe of the 20th century." -Jay Winter,Yale University
Review
"In this insightful and well-researched study, Erika Kuhlman refocuses our analytical gaze at the Great War through the lens of widows views and experiences and by examining how nation-states attempted to use widows to militarize and nationalize the war and postwar years. Widows found empty promises, insufficient support and a less-than reciprocal citizenship from nations eager to cast them as symbols of national sacrifice and proper womanhood. Some cooperated with national plans but others challenged state-sponsored programs and definitions of their womanhood and citizenship. Some transcended the boundaries of the nation-state by identifying with other women as widows through transnational identities and activism. A particular strength of Kuhlmans work is her comparative analysis of widowhood and the Great War across national experiences and her identification of the ways that widowhood became a catalyst for some women to challenge nationalism and militarism, a process that continues today."-Kimberly Jensen,Western Oregon University
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"Moving seamlessly from comparative history to transnational history, this book offers a new model of scholarly analysis. It demonstrates the vitality of the new transnational movement in historical studies and shows why womens history is in the vanguard of that movement."-Kathryn Kish Sklar,Distinguished Professor of History, State University of New York, Binghamton
About the Author
Erika Kuhlman is Associate Professor of history at Idaho State University. Her books include Petticoats and White Feathers, Reconstructing Patriarchy after the Great War, and Women and Transnational Activism in Historical Perspective.