Synopses & Reviews
World War I marked the first war in which the United States government and military took full responsibility for the identification, burial, and memorialization of those killed in battle, and as a result, the process of burying and remembering the dead became intensely political. This saga and the efforts of the living to honor them is a neglected component of United States military history, and in this fascinating yet often macabre account, Lisa M. Budreau unpacks the politics and processes of the competing interest groups involved in the three core components of commemoration: repatriation, remembrance, and return. She also describes how relatives of the fallen made pilgrimages to French battlefields, attended largely by American Legionnaires and the Gold Star Mothers, a group formed by mothers of sons killed in World War I, which exists to this day. Throughout, and with sensitivity to issues of race and gender, Bodies of War emphasizes the inherent tensions in the politics of memorialization and explores how those interests often conflicted with the needs of veterans and relatives.
Review
"Budreau offers an insightful perspective on how the US dealt with the aftermath of the Great War as officials sought to commemorate those who died in faraway places... For those with interests in the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, or military, ethnic, and gender history, this book is a must... Summing Up: Essential."-CHOICE,
Review
“Budreaus book is a monument to the power of civil society in framing American commemorative practices. She brings Gold Star Mothers back where they belong, into the center of the story of war and its aftermath. Through her study, we can still hear their voices, full of dignity and sadness. Here is a fine contribution to the history of American memory culture.”
-Jay Winter,author of Remembering War: The Great War between Memory and History in the Twentieth Century
Review
“A remarkable story of the three Rs—repatriation, remembrance, and return—one of the most poignant to appear in recent years about American participation in World War I. It has its moments in the work of what later became the funeral industry. The far wider importance, here for the first time, concerns the nationalizing of grief.”
-Robert H. Ferrell,author of Woodrow Wilson and World War I, 1917-1921
Review
“Bodies of War makes a strong and innovative contribution to the social and cultural history of Americas Great War. Budreau shows how Americans ambiguous understanding of the war interacted with their need to grieve and comprehend the loss of their sons in the nations first European war. Her powerful argument makes an important contribution to our knowledge not just of the war itself, but of the many ways that the war continued to impact America long after its conclusion.”
-Michael Neiberg,editor of The World War I Reader
Review
"Budreau's acount of the American way of remembrance uncovers a neglected chapter in the disputatious political history of the 1920s. Examining dozens of archival collections, both public and private, she ahs recovered the voices of mothers and other relatives of the dead. Bodies of War is a thoughtful, sometimes poignant contribution to our understanding of America's Great War experience."-Robert H. Zieger,The Journal of American History
Synopsis
What is at stake in the production of experimental texts by lesbian writers? what motivates these writers and characterizes their work? In this work, Elizabeth Meese examines the ways in which the experiences of the text, and the experiences of character, diverge and converge wit the writer's own biography.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-159) and index.
About the Author
Elizabeth Meese is Professor of English ad adjunct Professor of Women's studies at the University of Alabama. She is the author if two books, Crossing the double-cross: the practice of feminist literary criticism and Extensions: Re-Figuring Feminist criticism.