Synopses & Reviews
Since the beginning of the Korean War in 1950, nearly 100,000 Korean women have immigrated to the United States as the wives of American soldiers. Based on extensive oral interviews and archival research,
Beyond the Shadow of the Camptowns tells the stories of these women, from their presumed association with U.S. military camptowns and prostitution to their struggles within the intercultural families they create in the United States.
Historian Ji-Yeon Yuh argues that military brides are a unique prism through which to view cultural and social contact between Korea and the U.S. After placing these women within the context of Korean-U.S. relations and the legacies of both Japanese and U.S. colonialism vis á vis military prostitution, Yuh goes on to explore their lives, their coping strategies with their new families, and their relationships with their Korean families and homeland. Topics range from the personalthe role of food in their livesto the communalthe efforts of military wives to form support groups that enable them to affirm Korean identity that both American and Koreans would deny them. Relayed with warmth and compassion, this is the first in-depth study of Korean military brides, and is a groundbreaking contribution to Asian American, women's, and "new" immigrant studies, while also providing a unique approach to military history.
Review
"A wonderful book that challenges the idea that the Court did nothing of importance prior to Marshall's appointment; . . . it seems destined to become a staple source for the Court's first decade."
"This absorbing collection of essays . . . goes far toward filling a void in the literature on the early justices of the world's most significant tribunal."
"This creative and imaginative analysis of America's first national jurists is recommended for all students of Supreme Court history."
"Professor Gerber's Seriatim is a genuinely welcome work, an imaginative one, and a distinctly needed one. The pre-Marshall period had all-too-long been neglected and when addressed at all, it was usually done in cursory, brief compass. Gerber has done a splendid job in securing experts to analyze the labors and persona of the ten pre-Marshall jurists on our highest bench, and his introduction to the essays is a model of synthesis and clarity."
"This useful collection of biographical essays, bracketed by splendid treatments of John Jay and Oliver Elsworth, goes a long way toward establishing that the first justices of the Supreme Court were an impressive collection of political and constitutional thinkers who did much, before and during their service on the Court, to construct the constitutional order."
Review
“Where do marriage, diaspora, racism, and the politics of global alliances converge? In the dreams and dailiness of the thousands of Korean women living in the United States today. Ji-Yeon Yuh's engaging and revealing book shows us that by listening attentively to the Korean women married to white and black American men, we can become a lot smarter about the realities of globalized living.”-Cynthia Enloe,author of Maneuvers: the International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives
Review
“Sensitive and absorbing, Beyond the Shadow of Camptown probes a little-known but fascinating aspect of Asian-American history: the lives of nearly 100,000 Korean women who married American soldiers, and often live a silent, marginal existence in the United States. Professor Yuh gives eloquent voice to these women, linking their diaspora to a gripping and original account of the often appalling circumstances of American military occupation in Korea, while also locating many heartening stories of personal empowerment and triumph over the odds.”-Bruce Cumings,author of Korea's Place in the Sun
Review
“Ji-Yeon Yuh uses a wealth of sources, especially moving oral histories, to tell an important, at times heartbreaking, story of Korean military brides. She takes us beyond the stereotypes and reveals their roles within their families, communities, and Korean immigration to the U.S. Without ignoring their difficult lives, Yuh portrays these women's agency and dignity with skill and compassion.”-K. Scott Wong,Williams College
Review
“By studying the lives and history of Korean &38220;military brides,” Ji-Yeon Yuh pays tribute to an important group that has not received the understanding, attention, and respect that it deserves. Full of compelling stories, Beyond the Shadow of the Camptowns is sure to inspire new ways of thinking about U.S. and especially immigration history, as well as Asian American and Asian history.”-Elaine Kim,University of California at Berkeley
Review
"Yuh has composed a complex, provocative, and compassionate portrayal of the experiences of Korean military brides from the 1950s through the 1990s. . . . Delving into how these women face isolation and alienation from both Korean and US societies because of their transnational status, Yuh's masterful history demonstrates that these women have resisted perceptions of both societies and forged communities based on their claiming Korean and US identities as Korean military brides. A wonderful resource... Highly recommended."-Choice,
Synopsis
Seldom has American law seen a more towering figure than Chief Justice John Marshall. Indeed, Marshall is almost universally regarded as the "father of the Supreme Court" and "the jurist who started it all."
Yet even while acknowledging the indelible stamp Marshall put on the Supreme Court, it is possible--in fact necessary--to examine the pre-Marshall Court, and its justices, to gain a true understanding of the origins of American constitutionalism. The ten essays in this tightly edited volume were especially commissioned for the book, each by the leading authority on his or her particular subject. They examine such influential justices as John Jay, John Rutledge, William Cushing, James Wilson, John Blair, James Iredell, William Paterson, Samuel Chase, Oliver Ellsworth, and Bushrod Washington. The result is a fascinating window onto the origins of the most powerful court in the world, and on American constitutionalism itself.
About the Author
Scott Douglas Gerber is the author of the acclaimed To Secure These Rights: The Declaration of Independence and Constitutional Interpretation and First Principles: The Jurisprudence of Clarence Thomas, both available from NYU Press. He has received both a Ph.D. and a J.D. from the University of Virginia, and a B.A. from the College of William and Mary.