A Quarterly of Women's Studies

WOMEN’S STUDIES LIBRARIAN

FEMINIST COLLECTIONS A QUARTERLY OF WOMEN’S STUDIES RESOURCES

Volume 31 Numbers 1–2 Winter–Spring 2010

University of Wisconsin System Feminist Collections

A Quarterly of Women’s Studies Resources

Women’s Studies Librarian University of Wisconsin System 430 Memorial Library 728 State St. Madison, WI 53706

Phone: 608-263-5754 Fax: 608-265-2754 Email: [email protected] Website: http://womenst.library.wisc.edu

Editors: Phyllis Holman Weisbard, JoAnne Lehman

Cover art: One panel from “Dear Sisters: Referencing Women,” collage installation by Melissa A. Young, displayed for Women’s History Month in Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2010. Digitally enhanced photo by JoAnne Lehman.

Drawings: pp. 30, 43, 47: Miriam Greenwald

Cover design and graphic design assistance: Daniel Joe

Staff assistance: Elzbieta Beck, Linda Fain, Madelyn Homuth, Heather Shimon, Melissa A. Young

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Feminist Collections is indexed by Alternative Press Index, Women’s Studies International, and Library, Information Science, & Technology Abstracts. It is available in full text in Contemporary Women’s Issues and in Genderwatch. All back issues of Feminist Collections, beginning with Volume 1, Number 1 (February 1980), are archived in full text in the Minds@UW institutional repository: http://minds.wisconsin.edu/handle/1793/254. Numerous research guides, bibliographies and other informational files are available on the Women’s Studies Librar- ian’s website, http://womenst.library.wisc.edu. You'll find information about the office, tables of contents and selected full-text articles from recent issues of Feminist Collections, tutorials, WAVE: Women’s Audiovisuals in English, a link to the Women’s Studies Core Books Database, full issues of Feminist Periodicals: A Current Listing of Contents, and links to hundreds of other selected websites and databases on women and gender.

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Volume 31, Numbers 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010

CONTENTS

From the Editors ii

Book & Film Reviews

Gender and Political Violence 1 by Janice Bogstad The ystiqueM of the Female Sleuth, or, How I Stopped 9 Worrying and Learned to Love a Good Clue by Patricia Gott

Women and Literacy 13 y Marthab Kaplan

Women in Prison 15 y Francesb M. Kavenik The Maine Women Writers Collection at the University 21 of New England by Jennifer S. Tuttle & Cally Gurley

Women’s Compositions Online: Five Digital Collections 26 by Susan Wood

E-Sources on Women and Gender 29

New Reference Works in Women’s Studies 31 Addiction, Colonial America, Folklore, Gender Roles, Girls, Health, Historical Queerness, Latin American Writers, LGBT Research, Literature, National History Day, Southern Gender, Women of Color, Women’s Rights, Caveat Emptor

Periodical Notes 44

Books and Videos Received 48 From the Editors

This issue’s cover features one to become librarians, and many stay in Speaking of “referencing” section of a three-panel collage art touch over the years. women, this double issue includes a installation, titled “Dear Sisters: In Melissa’s case, we can hardly record number of reviews of reference Referencing Women,” that was believe our good fortune. She has just works: sixteen, covering topics from displayed in the second-floor lobby of graduated (with a double major in addiction, colonial America, and Memorial Library for Women’s History French and psychology) from the Uni- queer history through Latin American Month this year. Melissa A. Young, one versity of Wisconsin — but she won’t writers, LGBT research, and women’s of our student assistants, designed the be leaving! Melissa has been accepted rights. Among the feature essays are collage and put it together with help into the UW Law School, and she our first-ever review of books (and one from fellow student assistant Elzbieta intends to keep working with us while film) on women as terrorists, a look (Bess) Beck. The work incorporates, she begins to pursue her J.D. Since at five titles on incarcerated women, as design elements, details cut from Bess Beck and our third assistant, Mad- reflections on scholarly work about the otherwise-discarded dust jackets of elyn Homuth, have not yet graduated, detective stories that feature women books catalogued in the UW–Madison our current, fabulous student team will as sleuths, an illustrated history of the Libraries. (The dust jackets are stay together for at least one more se- Maine Women Writers Collection, removed from books as part of the pre- mester, and we’re delighted. a review of five important digital cataloging process here.) What a collections of work by women, great way not only to recycle but and more. also to expose library patrons We’re always looking for to book-cover art they would more good writers who can otherwise not see on the shelves. review groups of resources on We and all our library colleagues women’s and gender studies. were awed by this work of art. Please get in touch if there’s a And what awesome talent topic you would love to take on. emerges from the creative young women who work in this office, J.L. writing reference reviews and other columns for Feminist P.S. A recent misunderstanding Collections as well as doing many about reprint permission convinced less-glamorous yet necessary us that we need to make our policy tasks that keep our publications more prominent. We’ve added a going! We are very fond of — and statement to the inside cover of the impressed with — the students journal, but here it is as well: we employ. They are usually not women’s studies majors, but they Feminist Collections is a fully embody feminism. They work here copyrighted publication. only part-time and for an hourly Permission must be wage, yet they display remarkable specifically requested — in loyalty and commitment to the big every instance — to reprint picture of what we do, as well as to any of its content. Contact the the smallest details. They typically editors at Feminist Collections, stay for two years or longer, and 430 Memorial Library, we are sad to see them go when University of Wisconsin, they graduate, even as we applaud Madison, WI 53706; email, their successes and support their [email protected]. future goals. A fair number go on

Page ii Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Book & Film Reviews Gender and Political Violence

by Janice Bogstad

MY DAUGHTER THE TERRORIST. 58 mins. 2007. Film by Beate Arnestad; produced by Morten Daae; distributed by Women Make Movies (www.wmm.com). DVD: Order No. W09934. Sale: universities, colleges, & institutions, $295.00; home video, $29.95. Rental to colleges, universities, & institutions: $90.00.

Tara McKelvey, ed., ONE OF THE GUYS: WOMEN AS AGGRESSORS AND TORTURERS. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press, 2007. 266p. bibl. notes. pap., $15.95, ISBN 978-1580051965.

Paige Whaley Eager, FROM FREEDOM FIGHTERS TO TERRORISTS: WOMEN AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008. 240p. bibl. index. $89.95, ISBN 978-0754672258.

Margaret Gonzalez-Perez, WOMEN AND TERRORISM: FEMALE ACTIVITY IN DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL TERROR GROUPS. New York: Routledge, 2008. Contemporary Terrorism Studies. 162p. bibl. index. pap., $39.95, ISBN 978-0415570732.

We’re all familiar with the ste- The documentary film and three to women who are involved in political reotype that women are biologically books under review here all address, violence, whether that involvement is inclined to play private and nurturing either theoretically or more person- legal, quasi-legal, or illegal. And even roles in society, even in the midst of ally, what one of the authors, Paige those categories are called into ques- war or other political violence. Interest- Whaley Eager, calls political violence. tion, as is the conventionally under- ingly, as more women actually become All conclude that women’s agency is stood definition of terrorism. directly involved in political violence an important factor — that is, that — whether in governmental or non- women choose to participate in politi- My Daughter the Terrorist, the governmental military settings — that cal violence, although personal experi- documentary film, is the most personal stereotype is alternately challenged and ence of extremely violent conditions of the texts, opening with interviews reinforced, depending on who is inter- is often a motivating factor in their of two of the women in the Liberation preting the evidence. choices — and that those choices are Tigers of Tamil Eelam (also known as Since women appeared in the often made at great personal cost. The Black Tigers) in Sri Lanka. The essay Algerian conflict in the 1970s, their maker of the film and the authors of collection One of the Guys is also much significance on the front lines in these books also agree that the level of more personal than national or global, battles for ethnic, religious, or political social coercion involved in women’s with its focus on the torture tactics autonomy has engaged cultural and choices differs from one conflict situa- used against Arab men at Abu Ghraib political critics. The naïve view that tion to another. and on the women military personnel women are innately unsuited to actions These resources, as a group of who were prosecuted based on the few requiring direct physical violence seems texts, also make it apparent that the (of many alleged) photographs that to have disappeared, but the more width of the lens through which events were smuggled out to the news media. recent increase in numbers of women are viewed greatly influences how One of the Guys also introduces broader soldiers, women terrorist and freedom those events are interpreted, and that perspectives by examining feminist and fighters, and women suicide bombers this is the case both for participants in anti-feminist dialogues about women has sparked debate about the condi- violence and for observers (including in the present-day military. tions under which women make these the readers of these texts). All of these Although the essays in One of the — seemingly unnatural — choices to texts contrast national and sometimes Guys all interrogate feminist theory (es- kill and to die violently. international violence with intense pecially what some essayists call “naïve” interpersonal or case-study approaches and others “liberal” feminism), they

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page Book & Film Reviews come to varying conclusions. All of held in wholly inadequate “settlement” that her leader would never authorize these essays are accessible to a lay audi- camps, and the government refused actions that jeopardize civilians; she ence, including readers unfamiliar with to allow humanitarian aid. What will also claims that she would immediately feminism or with the larger political inevitably follow if the U.N. is not able kill her friend as a traitor if ordered to context of the Abu Ghraib atrocities. to intervene is tantamount to genocide. do so. Dharsika’s mother, who is also That same accessibility does not typify And it is clear from this documentary interviewed, experienced in her own the two other texts reviewed here, both that these young Tamil women knew childhood some of the same events that of which are embedded in sociological the likely outcome of their defeat. Dharsika has identified as having mo- dialogue. Both Margaret Gonzalez-Per- tivated her decision to become a Tamil ez, in Women and Terrorism, and Paige In My Daughter the Terrorist, Tiger. It is clear there was little choice Whaley Eager, in From Freedom Fight- we actually meet two of these young for these young women between en- ers to Terrorists, attempt to illuminate women, Dharsika and Puhalchudar, during the debased refugee status that the involvement of women in violence twenty-four-year-olds who have been her mother and other Tamils in North- around the world, using an overview Tamil Tigers since their early teens. ern Sri Lanka suffer and joining the process and carefully clarified — al- The film follows their normal routine Tigers. Her mother describes the con- though very different — methodolo- over the course of a few days, including ditions of terror under which they have gies. Both use case studies, but both set military training as well as such every- lived since Dharsika was four, “inside those studies within larger social the war,” with their living spaces and political contexts. These two bombed and invaded, women books explore very different the- and girls attacked, tortured, and ses, but reading them together raped by government soldiers, provides both historical and cur- and the end of any dreams for rent comparisons of a wide range education and a normal life. In of existing groups. For example, a particularly affecting scene, each discusses women in the Dharsika’s mother is shown some Tamil Tigers, but their differing of the film clips that will make methodologies and lenses expand their way into this production, our understanding of this con- the first news she’s had of her flict and others worldwide. daughter in several years. Then, Several of the resources re- near the end of the film, we are viewed highlight women caught treated to views of the graves and between the sexualized violence hero-walls dedicated to the many of their families, the official ap- young women who performed proval of government soldiers suicide bombings as Tamil Ti- and functionaries, and the lead- gers. Dharsika’s mother tells us ership of terrorist organizations. that she doesn’t even know where This perspective is especially her own daughter is buried, leav- brought to bear in a very person- ing us to assume that both young alized way in My Daughter the women are dead. In the lives of Terrorist. The young Tamil wom- all three of these women, the en in Sri Lanka seem to have few personal is very political. As of choices: they can be raped, ha- this writing, the hope of a Tamil rassed, and tortured and generally have day domestic activities as eating, doing homeland is gone, and we can only their lives destroyed by the Sri Lankan hair, and even praying. The two have wonder at the fate of the thousands of government, or they can become Tamil lived and fought together for seven girls and women of the Tamil ethnicity fighters and expect to live very short years and, despite the statement by one still in Sri Lanka. The film does a good lives. The Sri Lankan government has that if she is chosen as a suicide bomb- job not only of contrasting these wom- demonstrated its ruthlessness even er, the other will ask to take her place, en’s understanding with that of the rest since the establishment of peace in we also get a sense of the ominous of the world, but also of portraying that country in May of 2009. More mindset they have absorbed in their their extremely limited opportunities.1 than 300,000 ethnic Tamils were being training. Dharsika states emphatically

Page Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Book & Film Reviews

The essays in the volume edited several other essayists in this volume, Ilene Feinman provides statistics by Tara McKelvey, One of the Guys: that the only officer to be punished to document ways the media have Women as Aggressors and Torturers, focus for Abu Ghraib was Brigadier General obscured the role of gender and race particularly on women and violence, Janis Karpinski (a reservist in charge of in both perpetrating and representing but not the violence perpetrated by Abu Ghraib at the time), while one of that torture in Abu Ghraib. She notes groups defined nationally and interna- those directly responsible for designing the overrepresentation of white women tionally as terrorist. Here, a very specif- the policies, Major General Geoffrey soldiers as perpetrators of torture: ic, sexually coded violence, mandated Miller, was never brought to trial (p. women are only 15% of the soldiers at or at least encouraged by the U.S. mili- 87).3 this facility and 17% of the forces in tary and the CIA, is addressed. Most the Army. She notes, “I would argue of the essays at least make reference to Lucinda Marshall, in the es- that women in the military are used the official government explanation of say “The Misogynist Implications of as an enormous symbolic wellspring the smuggled photographs2 that came Abu Ghraib,” attacks one important of unresolved issues around gender to the attention of the world — that way the “bad apples” explanation has equality and masculinism” (p. 64). She they portrayed the independent actions been used: to argue that of “a few bad apples” (including me- feminism is the main dia “poster child” Lynndie England). culprit because it has According to Jumana Musa, many increased the numbers of other photos existed, of similar actions women in the military. perpetrated by many other soldiers “Linda Chavez of the de- at Guantanamo Bay prison and else- ceptively named Center where, but those were either suppressed for Equal Opportunity,” or destroyed. Moving beyond the ques- Marshall writes, “quickly tion of whether the three young wom- suggested that the pres- en who were prosecuted (out of seven) ence of women in the were guilty, Musa notes that “many military actually encour- questions have been raised about the aged such ‘misbehavior’” positions in which female soldiers (p. 51). Although there and interrogators were placed. Inter- is now ample evidence rogation techniques that have come that sexual humiliation of to light reveal a willingness to exploit Arab men is an oft-prac- women’s sexuality to achieve a larger ticed interrogation tech- objective”(p. 85). She also describes nique taught in manuals a common practice of smearing Arab sanctioned by the U.S. men with fluid made to look like men- military, several conserva- strual blood, and asks whether male tive media pundits have soldiers would be asked to use sexual- claimed that feminists’ ity in a similar way. Furthermore, she attempts to force women documents increases in sexual violence into places they don’t against female spouses at the hands of belong is really at fault. male American soldiers returning from Marshall also notes the Afghanistan. Her argument is intended underreporting of male military men also identifies broad patterns of torture to portray not only the military ten- abusing female Arab prisoners: “But techniques in Iraq and Afghanistan dency to exploit sexual violence and to far more misogynistic is the almost that were uncovered by the Interna- expect women soldiers to comply with total lack of attention to the ample tional Committee of the Red Cross orders to do so, but also to show that evidence of sexual assault against Iraqi and Amnesty International. the women soldiers are then blamed women at Abu Ghraib. Quite simply, Feinman is not the only contribu- for following orders and held up as ex- sexual abuse against men is considered tor to this volume to attack gendered amples of women who have acted in an torture; sexual abuse against women by torture techniques as military policy, unnatural way. Musa points out, as do men is business as usual” (p. 55). explaining the actions of England and

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page Book & Film Reviews other women in terms of both what as well as in the coerced submission immediate actions and their essential was ordered by the military or the CIA of male prisoners” (p. 228). Yet some- natures. and what was encouraged or allowed how these women were both taught by them. Timothy Kaufman-Osborn and encouraged to take advantage of a When One of the Guys is read posits that our shock over the pictures situation. Rajiva’s argument is merely in the context of the other resources is also a gendered response: “I argue that if we claim that the women were reviewed here, one notes startling that much of what appeared so shock- totally under someone else’s control, similarities in the lives of women in ing when these photographs were first we are again denying their agency. She the military and women who become released can be read as an extension of, still agrees that they were scapegoated terrorists. Both within the military and but also threats to, the logic of mascu- and used to direct attention away from within terrorist organizations, women’s linized militarism” (p. 146). Like some a misogynistic military milieu and cul- lives are structured by misogyny. Inter- of the other contributors, Kaufman- pable leaders.4 estingly, women in both groups also are Osborn interrogates the culture of the Barbara Finlay analyzes the expe- similar in that poverty and abuse figure military as well as of a significant pub- rience of women in the military as a heavily in their backgrounds. Appar- lic sector that is intolerant of women as whole: what they do to cope and what ently, some of the same social forces soldiers at the same time that it expects happens to them if they don’t put up that lead some women to become free- them to raise the moral tone of the with regular attacks and humiliation dom fighters and terrorists lead some military. As M.S. Embser-Herber has by their male peers. She claims that others into the U.S. military, where, suggested, the fixation on these par- “[t]o survive, they tend to take one of despite all efforts to counter male ticular photographs may well indicate three general approaches. Some try to hostility, they find some of the same that Americans today are better pre- fit in, to be ‘one of the guys,’ as manly sexuality-based hostility and interper- pared to see women return from Iraq and aggressive as the in body bags than as quasi-sexualized men, enduring sexist aggressors. Women in the military are behavior in silence in a sort of catch-22: they don’t fit in and participating in because they are supposedly unable to or complying with the brutalize; but if they prove themselves misogynist culture and able, they are blamed as if theirs are harassment of other monstrous actions. As Feinman argues, women. This is the male torturers are a given, but female only way a woman can torturers, no matter how much they actually be accepted were instructed and trained to torture, and promoted” (p. are unnatural. 201). Other strategies include isolating Not all of the contributors to themselves or report- One of the Guys excuse the actions of ing and resisting the the women soldiers who carried out the misogyny, neither of policy of sexualized torture. While Lila which bodes well for a Rajiva invokes the double standard as woman’s military ca- an explanation for these women being reer. In sum, the essays prosecuted, she also notes that we need of this book cast seri- to acknowledge their agency: “Ulti- ous doubt on whether mately, we are compelled to admit that women at Abu Ghraib it was not because they were powerless had much choice in that women acted as they did, but be- becoming torturers, as cause they were exulting in their power well as seriously calling — exulting both in the voluntary sub- into question the cul- mission of their fellow soldiers to their tural interpretation, in sexual power (witness the sex videos news media and more of Lynndie with numerous partners) generally, of both their

Page Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Book & Film Reviews sonal manipulation suffered by women analysis. Each is first discussed on the as the reason that women become ter- “freedom fighters,” that is, women who basis of what she calls the macrolevel rorists and suicide bombers, while the find themselves in organizations that factors influencing women’s participa- motives of male terrorists, who tell the oppose their government. Hence, the tion in political violence and terrorism, same stories of privation and suffering, title of this book identifies the irresolv- in both a wider historical and a current death of relatives, and personal affront, able tension for these women: On the context. In another category, which she are described as primarily political. one hand, they are expected to be like calls mesolevel factors, she examines Equally disturbing is the propaganda “the guys”; on the other, they are criti- current political and social issues relat- created by the political movements cized for not being proper women, and ing to the group in question; in a third, themselves. Women are often por- victimized as if their success as soldiers microlevel factors, she describes the trayed as martyrs for either a political also makes them sexually available. As general involvement of women in the or religious cause, but not as people even Janis Karpinski, the former com- group or groups identified and then with individual agency. And in most mander of Abu Ghraib, says, men don’t provides short case histories of indi- of the countries where activity has re- like to work for women, and they use a vidual women. cently taken place or is happening now, range of behavior to demonstrate their these very women who become active frustrations. Eager addresses each group only in the political sphere also become so- once — so, for example, the Tamil Ti- cial outcasts, no longer considered ap- Paige Whaley Eager, in From gers of Eelam are discussed in Chapter propriate marriage candidates by fam- Freedom Fighters to Terrorists: Women 5, where they are viewed in the context ily or society at large. Eager also makes and Political Violence, is more interest- of ethnonational political violence, and a very telling comparison between the ed in what she describes as the range of not where one would expect, in Chap- terrorists and suicide bombers of other forces in women’s lives that lead them ter 6 along with other female suicide groups and those identified by the to become terrorists or freedom fight- bombers. Yet her carefully set-out mul- PLO. ers. In an effort to refute the impres- tilevel analysis provides information sion prevalent in the news media that that makes these individual women’s Apparently, the women in the women become terrorists for personal choices much more clear. My Daughter Tamil Tigers and several other groups reasons (e.g., they have boyfriends in the Terrorist included references to the were allowed to advance through their the movement or have had personal ex- Tamil leader, but Eager goes further, organizations, gaining positions of periences of injury or humiliation), but identifying him as Prabhakaran (p. authority and participating in deci- that men do so for political reasons, 135) and reviewing his historical in- sion-making, while this trajectory was she first organizes her case studies into volvement in the conflict, seriously manifestly not apparent for the women political groupings and how they make undercutting the cult-of-personality in the PLO. At the same time, the use of women: left-wing organizations, image narrated by the young women. PLO recruited the largest number of right-wing organizations, national lib- And, of course, news of Prabhakaran’s terrorist bombers and women terror- eration organizations, ethnonational recent death during the disastrous ists. Eager’s short descriptions of each political violence, and suicide bomb- defeat of the Tamils was identified by group, of course, do not offer an in- ing. Her focus is a search for women’s current news media as one major factor depth analysis of either the group itself levels of agency in these various situ- in the surrender of the surviving Tamil or the women involved. She is clearly ations — or, more exactly, to demon- Tigers. seeking comparisons in her search for strate that one cannot assign women a Yet each of Eager’s narratives is the forces that move women from the “personal“ impetus and men an ethical very brief, so the book reads like a roles of private life — regardless of the or social one. But she first defines po- catalog of “freedom fighters” or terror- political, religious or social construct litical violence as a more neutral term ist organizations. This approach is use- — into organizations that promote than terrorism, explains why it is useful for making comparisons. As does terrorism. Like Gonzalez-Perez (dis- ful, and concludes by offering observa- Gonzalez-Perez’s Women and Terrorism, cussed next in this review), Eager as- tions on differences and similarities Eager’s work identifies a disturbing serts that suicide bombers in different of women operating in these different trend: that news media around the movements are there for very different organizations, internationally. She ap- world interpret the same evidence dif- reasons, and that some choose this role proaches each type of group by looking ferently depending on whether the per- while others are forced into it, just as is at different meanings that can be read petrators are male or female. Journalists the case for the men around them. And into their actions at different levels of constantly point to personal tragedies she concludes that it is not just femi-

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page Book & Film Reviews

nism (while liberal feminism has some participants in personally influence), Marxism, or personal rela- dangerous acts. This argu- tionships that motivate women or men ment must be made very to work within these groups, but larger carefully, because it might social networks such as university con- seem almost circular; alter- nections, extended families (as with natively, the groups chosen the IRA), and ethnic identities (as with from the many possibilities the Tamil Tigers, the Basques, or the may seem to have been FLN). “What is clear, however, is that selected only because they there is no single profile of female sui- support the thesis. cide bombers, just as there is not with Gonzalez-Perez first their male counterparts. Although they reviews definitions of ter- may be younger as opposed to older, rorism; in the course of they come from all types of socioeco- that review, she highlights nomic backgrounds, secular versus reli- the many difficulties at- gious milieus, and various educational tendant on a workable attainment levels” (p. 215). definition, including the ideology that might inform In Women and Terrorism: Female it. For example, depend- Activity in Domestic and International ing on your definition, Terror Groups, author Gonzalez-Perez you could exclude acts of explores her view that there is a signifi- terrorism promulgated by cant correlation between the numbers a government, such as the of women who join a terrorist organi- Sri Lankan government zation and the number of women in against the Tamil minority positions of leadership or authority. in the North, or, even less She claims in her introduction that ambiguously, the German “high levels of female terrorist activ- government against the sue of what to make of groups in the ity appear predominantly in domestic Jews in the 1930s and 1940s. Laqueur’s Arab-Israeli conflicts. Is the targeting of terrorist organizations because the definition, she notes, focuses on the noncombatants always a terrorist act? characteristics of these groups are illegitimate use of force and the target- (If so, what do we make of the many more conducive to the rejection of ing of innocent people for the purpose governments that target “villages” and traditional gender roles and the ac- creating fear; another analyst, Paul R. ethnic groups suspected of hiding ter- ceptance of active female participation, Pillar, “further organizes the concept of rorists? Aren’t government troops then thereby encouraging the mobilization terrorism into five essential elements: also terrorists when they use violent and participation of women”(p. 2). In premeditation, political motivation, methods?) Clearly, some of the defini- other words, women participate more noncombatants as targets, clandestine tions are included to emphasize the often in groups with national agendas agents and creating the presence of difficulty in distinguishing between because they perceive that they have a threat” (p. 9). Most definers agree, institutionalized terrorism as practiced chance to improve their status within however, that the political use of vio- in totalitarian regimes and counter-in- their society, an opportunity they don’t lence against innocent civilians is a stitutional terrorism practiced by both find in groups with international foci. more generally understood condition domestic and international terrorist Gonzalez-Perez sets out to me- of terrorism. It is clear that several of groups with ethnic or political agendas. thodically explore the reasons that the terms used in each definition are But Gonzalez-Perez concludes her in- women are far more likely to join ideologically coded, even if the defini- troduction with the acknowledgement organizations that have a national tions as a whole seem quite reasonable. that a working definition is necessary: agenda and are opposed to a totalitar- The range of definitions cited points ian government. In this type of orga- to areas of ambiguity in the attempt Terrorism, then, is the use nization, women are far more likely to at definition. For example, the claim or threat of violence against hold positions of authority, to advance that terrorists are always counter to noncombatants by individuals, through the ranks, and to be willing their own governments raises the is- groups, or state governments

Page Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Book & Film Reviews

for political objectives. These and have little, if any, input on Asia, Africa and the Middle East, or activities may include guerrilla policy formation. Furthermore, Europe — and contrasts domestic ter- warfare, revolutions, state- there is rarely any anticipation rorism and international terrorism in sponsored terrorism, separatist of change in their status once each chapter. However, in each case, movements, and organized mi- the group’s goals have been she relies on admittedly limited infor- litia movements. (p. 11) achieved. (p. 16) mation in determining which of the four possible roles women play in the Gonzalez-Perez then sets out the The Warrior category is both cen- specific terrorist organization, further categories of her major theoretical posi- tral to the thesis of the entire book and emphasizing the definitional complexi- tion by briefly exploring the concept ambiguous, especially with regard to ties attendant on such a study. And of that women perceive themselves as a suicide bombers. Gonzalez-Perez finally course the national and international repressed majority with issues similar concludes, as did Eager, that there organizations she reviews in each re- to those of ethnic, tribal, or other must be more than one category of sui- gion are not in the same countries, minorities. However, since her explo- cide bombers — those used exclusively rendering comparisons problematic ration also requires her to distinguish as suicide bombers by international yet again. For example, the first group between national and international terrorist groups, and those who train discussed in Asia is the Tamil Tigers groups, she also interrogates the often and operate as warriors before being (also referenced in the DVD and in elided definitions of nation and state asked, as their male counterparts some- Eager’s book), which is identified as and then finally describes a range of time are, to commit suicide bombings. intranational, that is, a group oppos- roles for women in terrorist groups, So female suicide bombers can either ing the government of its country, and as Sympathizers, Spies, Warriors, and be Warriors or belong to the fourth also as attracting women and affording Dominant Forces; and she uses these category — Dominant Forces — the them the opportunity to become War- categories throughout her discussion most privileged one for women: “Fi- riors and Dominant Forces. Several of many practitioners of political vio- nally, the Dominant forces participate other groups with women members are lence. Criminal justice scholars Pamala at the highest levels, providing leader- mentioned; one comparison is with the Griset and Sue Mahan, she says, ship, ideology, strategy and motivation. Vietnam National Liberation Front, These women often fill commando which “typically portrayed women characterize Sympathizers pri- positions at the core of the group” (p. as active members of the Vietnamese marily as camp followers who 16). insurgency...but these instances were provide money, time, sewing, This last category is not as ambigu- extremely rare” (p. 73). As in this com- cooking, and even sex to the ous as Warriors, as it requires that the parison, at each stage in her argument males in the terrorist organiza- organizations invest time in training Gonzalez-Perez relies more on her own tion. Spies are a more active and permit women to have power and judgment and that of her peers than group, serving as decoys, mes- authority within the organization. on stated facts and figures, although it sengers, intelligence-gatherers While organizing her study of these can be argued that she does so because and contributing strategic groups geographically rather than by there is not a lot of evidence. Thus, the support to the men as well. type, Gonzalez-Perez comes to conclu- conclusion that women select intrana- Sympathizers and Spies are sions about women’s level of agency tional organizations because they per- linked by the lack of any re- that are similar to those of Eager: that ceive the chance to improve their status turn on their investment. (p. women’s level of agency in Dominant slides all too easily into the argument 15) Forces, especially, is very high and is that these organizations attract women motivated by a range of personal, so- because self-agency is more possible Warriors, on the other hand, cial, and accidental reasons. within the groups. Gonzalez-Perez’s technique for Gonzalez-Perez has an intrigu- are more active participants arguing that women play a more active ing thesis that is as difficult to prove who are recruited and trained role in national terrorist groups is to as it is compelling. As a result, it is to use weapons and incendi- present short overviews of national and more of a suggestion of where to look ary devices in guerrilla warfare. international organizations within spe- for women’s roles as terrorists than a They may fight alongside their cific countries. She surveys the groups proof that women are more common male counterparts, but they are based on the region in the world in as intranational than as international not allowed to become leaders which they operate — the Americas, terrorists. Nevertheless, her knowledge

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page Book & Film Reviews of the definitional issues as well as of mate (to some degree) governments clear that she had had a major role in the stereotypical cast given to women’s or by nationalist or international ter- directing the soldiers’ actions, while terrorist activity is both fascinating and rorist groups. Perhaps women’s direct former General Janis Karpinski had subtle. With more hard evidence, her experience with this sort of physical been allowed only restricted access (to thesis might even be more solid. At violence will eventually result in men the infamous cellblocks) under the the same time, some statements in her also exercising the freedom to refuse guise that interrogation was under the conclusion are evidentially valid when such violence as an answer to conflict. singular control of the CIA. groups like the Tamil Tigers are stud- And perhaps we can more openly ied in more detail. For example, she acknowledge that women as well as 4. For a more detailed assessment of states that “[a]s a policy tool, studies men have always paid a high personal the problems created for women in in this area could encourage govern- price — physically, socially, economi- military culture, one might also look to ment institutions to provide gender cally, and psychologically — for their Helen Benedict’s The Lonely Solder: the equity and opportunities for women in involvement. Private War of Women Serving in Iraq economic, political and social arenas, (Boston: Beacon Press, 2009). We will thereby reducing terrorist movements’ Notes see women’s agency addressed again appeal to women, and thus, diffusing in Paige Whaley Eager’s From Freedom the infrastructure of such movements. 1. For a fuller understanding of how Fighters to Terrorists: Women and Politi- Poverty, human rights abuse, and dis- this conflict came about, Eager’s and cal Violence, which is also reviewed in crimination are all factors that generate Gonzalez’s sociological studies (re- this essay. discontent among women and provide viewed in this essay), although more potential mobilization for political scholarly, are helpful. Neither focuses 5. There are now a number of other in- violence against the state” (p. 131). primarily on the Tamil situation, but teresting studies both of women in ter- Such a conclusion correlates with other includes it in the context of wider stud- rorist organizations and women in the sources of information on the value of ies of terrorism and women. Another military. See, for example, in addition education, economic support, and so- film, To See If I’m Smiling (Women to those cited in Notes 1 and 4, Kirsten cial investment in women worldwide. Make Movies, 2007, directed by Tamar Holmstedt’s Band of Sisters: American That it should appear in a study of the Yarom), reinforces the similarities Women at War in Iraq (2008) and The motivations for terrorism should be no in the military socialization process Girls Come Marching Home: Stories of surprise. described in both My Daughter the Women Warriors Returning from the War I can highly recommend both Ea- Terrorist and One of the Guys; young in Iraq (2009); Eileen MacDonald’s ger (From Freedom Fighters to Terrorists) women who have served in the Gaza Shoot the Women First (1992); Laura and Gonzalez-Perez (Women as Terror- Strip for the Israeli army describe the Sjoberg & Caron E. Gentry’s Moth- ists), as much for alerting the reader negative ways in which the experience ers, Monsters, Whores: Women’s Violence to the reasons for women’s widespread has changed them and the social indif- in Global Politics (2007); and the film involvement in terrorism and to the ference to their suffering. The Sari Soldiers, directed by Julie broad and deep development of terror- Bridgham (Women Make Movies, ist movements since the late 1960s as 2. The photographs showed primarily 2008). for their stated theses. One can com- female soldiers seemingly gloating over pare their relatively brief discussions Arab males who are fully or partially [Janice Bogstad is a professor and the of some of the same organizations for naked and in sexually suggestive or head of collection development at the alternative perspectives. In fact, reading humiliating positions — for example, University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire’s Mc- (or viewing, in the case of the video) stacked in a naked pyramid, or leashed Intyre Library. She has been a university all four of these works in concert has like dogs, with a woman holding the librarian since 1986 and also teaches in been very arresting for me. My Daugh- leash. English and women’s studies. She reviews ter the Terrorist and One of the Guys, books for twelve publications in women’s while more personal in tone, reinforce 3. In fact, as Feinman points out, de- studies, medieval studies, women and the broader conclusions of the more spite the names and involvement of literature, and popular culture, as well as theoretical works, and all serve to em- Colonel Thomas Pappas and Major for library journals. This is her first foray phasize the gross dehumanizing effects General Barbara Fast coming to light into terrorist studies, but she is preparing of institutionalized violence, whether in subsequent investigations, Fast was to teach on the narratives generated by that violence is sponsored by legiti- not held culpable, although it is now and about women and global violence.]

Page Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Book Reviews

The Mystique of the Female Sleuth, Or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love a Good Clue

by Patricia Gott

Phyllis M. Betz,s Le bian Detective Fiction: Woman as Author, Subject and Reader. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2006. 207p. pap., $35.00, ISBN 978-0786425488.

Michael G. Cornelius & Melanie E. Gregg, Nancy Drew and her Sister Sleuths: Essays on the Fiction of Girl Detectives. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008. 216p. pap., $35.00, ISBN 978-0786439959.

Lisa M. Dresner, The Female Investigator in Literature, Film and Popular Culture. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2006. 240p. pap., $35.00, ISBN 978-0786426546.

A few months ago, I spent a few important, though, is that she is fear- combination of will, desire, intelligence days watching bits of television crime less. As a young girl, I devoured series and a healthy dash of fearlessness — it dramas, after which I walked away books, especially Nancy Drew and is these qualities that make the girl with the following impression: It’s clear Trixie Belden, but also Judy Belden detective as popular as she is” (p. 3). our culture possesses a morbid and dis- and the Hardy Boys. As I read and re- Indeed, Nancy Drew’s spirit lives on turbing fascination with dead women. read them, I imagined myself as Nancy today in new and ever-unfolding vari- Shows like CSI and Law and Order, Drew, a fearless and indefatigable spirit ants such as Veronica Mars and Harry which feature a forensic science com- who never failed in her many quests Potter’s Hermione Granger. ponent, regularly portray women char- to root out the villain and unravel the The piece “Nancy Drew and the acters as victims of extremely vicious series of clues put before her. I suppose Mythtery Story” provides fascinating and sadistic crimes, and many Ameri- some part of me still holds her in awe details about the genesis of the Nancy cans digest these portrayals without a and hopes to emulate her blend of in- Drew books. James D. Keeline notes second thought. That’s why it’s refresh- tuition and deductive logic. that upon first publication of the series ing to escape to the less-complicated (1930), Nancy Drew differed from world of the Nancy Drew Mystery Sto- In this vein, feminist strains her predecessors because the works ries® and also to the realm of the tough are referenced by several writers in revolved primarily around her, rather and independent female investigator. the Gregg and Cornelius anthology. than around a group — the Rover The three works under consideration Although Mildred Wirt Benson, the Boys or the Bobbsey Twins, for exam- here indicate that the interest in strong writer of twenty-three of the original ple. While her chums Bess Marvin and female heroines in charge of their des- fifty-six Nancy Drews, did not de- George Fayne accompany her in her tinies is alive and well — at least in the scribe herself as a feminist, she was sleuthing, Nancy is at the center of the scholarly universe. an independent, driven woman who action, a clear orchestrator and agent Nancy Drew and Her Sister Sleuths flew planes well into her old age and of her life and her work. This repre- will be an absorbing read for anyone authored a column for the Toledo sents a real victory for girls. The article who ever found herself ensconced in Blade newspaper for fifty-five years.1 concludes that there is not one, fixed the world of juvenile detective series Trixie Belden’s creator, Julie Tatham, Nancy; she changes to fit the times. fiction. Michael Cornelius posits in was a self-described feminist (p. 129). his introduction that juvenile detective As Cornelius notes, “This prelude to Does she change enough, series endure precisely because they feminism — this amalgamation of the though? In “Race and Xenophobia in uphold conservative values even as the qualities perceived to be the finest in the Nancy Drew Novels,” Leona W. protagonists undercut those values. both boys and girls — this ability to Fisher exposes some of the more dis- Nancy is simultaneously a rebel and inhabit and succeed in realms tradi- turbing aspects of the works, including a defender of the status quo. Most tionally ascribed to men — this potent egregiously racist depictions of people

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page Book Reviews of color, particularly African Ameri- at all. Cornelius observes that by the Zani diverges a bit from this point. The cans. Some details are minimized or end of the 1970s, the majority of stu- Trixie Belden books, like the Nancy whitewashed in subsequent rewrites, dents enrolled at American universities Drew ones, involve formulaic story- but as Fisher notes, “The effects of this were female (p. 79). His larger point telling, a preponderance of clichés, second, ostensibly ‘colorblind’ strategy — that the subsidiary characters such and unrealistic details that sometimes are both confusing and insidious” (p. as Ned Nickerson, Nancy’s sometime border on the excessive. Zani believes, 69). Fisher discusses what was identi- boyfriend, often possess more scientific however, that the emphasis on family fied as troubling about the original and technical insight than the main structures in the Belden series provides series and what the newer versions lack female characters, particularly in some an alternative that readers might more in terms of overtly racialized messages. of the 1970s volumes such as The Invis- easily relate to. Additionally notewor- Both the rewrites and the original ver- ible Intruder — would suggest that the thy is the series’ attempt to put forth sions are problematic in that they rein- conservative strain is still present in the a middle-class heroine who at times force deeply entrenched cultural biases works at this time. challenges class issues, unlike her sister in favor of whites. From a narrative Several essays assert that female sleuth Nancy Drew. For example, in standpoint, the original versions are far detective series both reinforce and chal- several of the books, Trixie and her more engagingly and charmingly writ- lenge conventional norms, whether pals conduct fund drives for deserving ten in terms of topical detail, causes such as UNICEF; in the while the edited versions seem first of the series, The Secret of to have been written by com- the Mansion, Trixie triumphantly mittee. Indeed, I don’t believe champions the cause of Jim, a it is overstating the point to say homeless runaway; and in the that the attitudes expressed by Red Trailer Mystery, she and her the white characters in both best friend Honey Wheeler help versions occasionally border on a nearby family living in a trailer white supremacy, particularly achieve a more secure financial in the early novels where black position. It’s hard to imagine characters are often portrayed Nancy immersing herself in simi- as inept, while white characters’ lar earnest causes. ethnicity is rarely commented In “Not Nancy Drew but on. Also disturbing is that Not Clueless,” Marla Harris whites are most often portrayed foregrounds the view that in the as the social superiors of black largely post–Nancy Drew world, characters. The fact that this bias the more modern female detec- extended into some of the 1970s tives — the Lulu Darks and rewrites reveals some of the deep the Veronica Marses — rely on biases of the Stratemeyer Syn- feminine accoutrements, such dicate, the owner of the Nancy as makeup and high fashion, Drew series. both to define themselves and In his tightly written entry, to achieve their strategic ends. “‘They Blinded Her with Sci- Unavoidable, too, is the sexual ence’: Science Fiction and Tech- dimension, which leaps out of nology in Nancy Drew,” Corne- the page in works such as Madi- lius notes that “the men in the son Bennett’s Lulu Dark Can series all possess some form of See Through Walls and Alane formal education or specialized train- they be in relation to gender or to Ferguson’s The Christopher Killer: A ing, whereas none of the women in family structure and dynamics. In Forensic Mystery (p. 158). The presence these texts have any higher schooling at “Puzzles, Paternity and Privilege: The of dark sexuality and the reliance on all” (p. 89), which does not provide an Mysterious Function(s) of the Fam- it by both male and female detectives accurate reflection of the larger culture ily in Trixie Belden,” however, Steve J. to achieve their ends is no stranger to

Page 10 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Book Reviews the detective genre, but to refer- sesses a somewhat disconnected ence it to the degree some of the feel, in part because it reads a bit contemporary teen authors do is like an overly long list of diffuse somewhat new. No doubt films topics. For example, right after and other media are part of the discussing driving and transporta- reason for such an explosion of tion motifs as symbols of female hormones: witness the extreme distress, Dresner mentions mad- popularity of the Twilight series ness as a key motif in works such (both in print and on the large as Nikki Baker’s The Lavender screen). Harris also critiques the House Murder, without showing extreme reliance on femininity any logical link between the two and thinness in the more recent concepts (pp. 54–55). Further- girl sleuth offerings, tracing more, subject headings in several girls’ insecurities and ambiva- chapters appear tacked on. The lence to their status in a world book does, however, pique the that objectifies them at increas- reader’s interest in seeking out ingly younger ages. Even as girls new works featuring the female achieve a modicum of success sleuth. as thinking beings, much of Phyllis Betz’s structure and their intellectual achievement is approach in Lesbian Detective overshadowed by anxieties that Fiction: Woman as Author, Subject manifest themselves in a fixation and Reader are quite cohesive. with their physical appearance Although Betz does incorporate — a fixation neither sensible some theoretical material, she is Nancy Drew nor tomboyish able to get directly to her point Trixie Belden would have toler- and make her ideas accessible to ated. Previously, books with fe- a wider, non-scholarly audience. male heroines — detective nov- egorized as mad” (p. 2). It’s an intrigu- (To be fair, all the books under els in particular — provided a bit of an ing concept, admittedly, but a thin one consideration succeed in this regard.) escape valve for girls. Harris raises the on which to base an entire analysis. In Betz is familiar with the historical prec- issue of whether such a valve currently “The Socio-Cultural Determinants of edents that have helped put women exists in young adult fiction. This sug- the Role of the Female Investigator on sleuths on the literary map, as well as gests that while there are limitations to Television,” Dresner refers to several the particular challenges that lesbian the Nancy Drew formula, more recent examples of 1970s television series in detective chroniclers such as Katherine incarnations of series books have not which the key investigators are female. V. Forrest, one of the early originators completely transcended those limits. Surprisingly, she sees the oft-maligned of the genre,2 have faced. In The Female Investigator, the Charlie’s Angels as more progressive One such challenge involves the second of the three texts reviewed than many might think. The Angels paradox of placing strong female char- here, Lisa M. Dresner examines the are depicted as driving sports cars, fly- acters in very vulnerable situations. agency of the adult female detective ing helicopters, and piloting boats; in Betz is clear-eyed about the genre, in media and a few novelistic depic- other words, they possess agency in noting that “crimes of violence against tions, including Daphne du Maurier’s many situations, as do several other of women, especially sexual-based ones, Rebecca. Dresner, having investigated their female investigator counterparts. appear often in works with female these works through a variety of lenses, Perhaps the 1970s was a more progres- detectives” (p. 48). This is true, for believes that “the female investigator sive time for the female sleuth than one instance, in the adventures of Sue is least limited as she is portrayed in might have previously intuited. This is Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone (a character fiction; somewhat more limited as she one of Dresner’s more valuable obser- who may not be a lesbian but certainly is portrayed in television; and most vations. personifies the independent spirit of limited as she is portrayed in film, a While Dresner’s work provides a one). Betz grapples repeatedly with medium in which she is routinely cat- useful overview of the topic, it pos- the paradox that female detectives

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 11 Book Reviews often have to employ the very positively on the progenitors of violence that most of them de- the detective series, as witnessed plore. When lesbian detectives by the tendency of the older ver- are forced to direct this violence sions of the teen-detective series toward female villains and per- books to reify dominant ideolo- petrators, it’s a double blow, one gies. However, new versions of that presents real dilemmas for the female detective continue to the main characters. unfold in a variety of media, and The stigma still faced by she continues to fascinate readers lesbian detectives, who confront of all ages. Nancy Drew’s spirit is sexism and homophobia from still very much with us today. coworkers, criminals, and the larger society, is another motif oft-referenced in the lesbian detective novel. Characters such Notes as Forrest’s Kate Delafield often transcend these societal pres- 1. Amy Benfer, “Who Was sures, however, and in the pro- Carolyn Keene?” Salon, Octo- cess they lead readers to a sort of ber 8, 1999, http://www.salon. “revolution,” in Betz’s words (p. com/mwt/feature/1999/10/08/ 175). She concludes with this keene_q_a/. optimistic view: “When I pick up a detective novel, written by 2. Lori L. Lake, “Gay and Les- a lesbian author, detailing the bian Detective Novels, Part 2: ability of a lesbian character to The Lesbian Detective Novel,” engage with people and institu- Crime Spree Magazine, Jan/Feb tions unwilling to acknowledge 2006, reprinted at http://www. their existence and succeeding, I These three works make it appar- lorillake.com/lesbiandetective. become part of a community of readers ent that significant progress has been html (accessed May 21, 2010). experiencing the same recognition and made in presenting the female sleuth approval for those efforts” (p. 175). I as an intelligent agent in both senses [Patricia Gott teaches British literature, finished Betz’s work with the sense that of the word, capable of taking ratio- composition, and gender studies at the the lesbian detective genre deserves to nal and decisive action. The trails cut University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. be more fully acknowledged for its im- by Mildred Wirt Benson back in the She enjoys a good mystery in life and in portant place in the pantheon of detec- 1930s have led to innumerable de- fiction now and then.] tive fiction. tours, some of which have not reflected

Page 12 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Book Reviews

Women and Literacy

by Martha Kaplan

Mev Miller & Kathleen P. King, eds., Empowering Women Through Literacy: Views from Experience. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2009. 344p. pap., $45.99, ISBN 978-1607520832.

When asked to review this perience of those learning was simply series of recommendations for teaching book, I accepted, although I expected not effective. In the words of the WE adult women literacy that she has de- it to be dry work. Instead I found it LEARN cooperative, veloped through her years of teaching. engaging, intelligent, often delightful, She suggests that before any student often hopeful, and frequently painful. WE LEARN seeks to encour- joins a class, teacher and student meet This assemblage of voices from those age teachers to create holistic for an interview to lay the groundwork working and learning in adult women’s women-supportive learn- for understanding the life and experi- literacy programs is one of the re- ing environments in spite ences of the person joining the class. sources available through WE LEARN of restrictions placed by the The teacher’s job in that interview is, —Women Expanding / Literacy Edu- National Reporting System first, to listen. Milheim also recom- cation Action Resource Network — a (NRS) and state/federal as- mends that teachers learn about the participatory feminist organization sessment and accountability communities of their students outside fostering literacy as a tool for empow- policies. We challenge activists the classroom. erment and equity for women (www. from every social movement litwomen.org/welearn.html). Editors to consider the literacy pro- Stories throughout this section Mev Miller and Kathleen King felt ficiencies of all people and tell how women’s lives have been nega- that such a forum was needed to coun- to consider how print-based tively affected by broader social poli- teract the isolation often experienced information and privileged cies reflecting race, class, and gender. by those working and learning in this language continues as a bar- One of the striking stories comes from field. This gathering of voices would, rier for access of the people Beatrice Arrindell, about the treatment in the editors’ views, provide a site for to people’s liberation causes. of her African American community sharing information within the field as (p. xv) and its children in East Brooklyn, New well as with educators, policy makers, York, in the 1970s, when questions and others interested in social justice Empowering Women Through of racial policy in America were often and change. Through their network, Literacy is divided into three sections. myopically focused only on the South. the editors invited those working in the The first, “Reflections,” offers an open- The price here was paid in the broken field to share their experiences. ended sharing of experiences by four- lives of young people, in her life and Much of the literature on achiev- teen teachers and learners. Participants in her brother’s. There are also prison ing literacy focuses on three elements employ different strategies and genres narratives, poems by women in literacy that must be part of any effective to talk about their own vulnerabilities programs where the constraints are teaching. Teachers must build motiva- and their individual successes. In “The beyond the imagination of most of us, tion, create relationships, and have Literacy of Being,” ESL teacher Denise and poems about journeys of pain and specific strategies for teaching the dif- DiMarzio argues by analogy for respect growth. Each story, however, shows ferent skills needed for literacy, includ- for each individual’s existence, by trac- how adult literacy programs have ing those dealing with difficulties that ing the etymology of the verb to be. She empowered these women, often trans- may be neurological. As responses from argues that the English language itself, forming their lives. the field came in, however, it became including its most fundamental verb, The second section of the book, clear to the editors that the most criti- is a hybrid that has traveled through comprising thirteen articles from cal element for success with adult basic time and geography. She includes po- practice, focuses on different learning education, especially with women, was etry by her students, as do many other communities that have been fostered the affective element. Teaching that fo- contributors to this volume. Also in to create learning and empowerment. cused solely on the skills to be learned this section, Karen Milheim sets out a and not on the emotions and life ex-

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 13 Book Reviews

A teacher in a GED program in Provi- One of the more disheartening fund of ideas for teaching and learning. dence, Rhode Island, develops a pic- stories is by Dianne Ramdeholl, Stacie Laypeople interested in educational ture-to-story-to-text process to create Evans, and John Gordon, about Open issues will also find it valuable. Both herstories with her students; another Book, a small, community-based lit- audiences may also benefit from WE teacher uses Gestalt theory for her eracy program in Brooklyn, New York. LEARN’s extensive website at www. theoretical base as she creates positive After sixteen years of success, Open litwomen.org/welearn.html, which classroom images around her students Book was forced to close its doors in offers resources, events, and ongoing to challenge their negative self-im- 2002, when funding priorities for adult projects. ages. In Chicago, a literacy project uses literacy changed to the limited focus of novels by African American women workforce development; a skills-based [Martha Kaplan attended Macalester with themes of abuse and trauma to approach trumped social justice and College, earned a B.A. in sociology and help women frame their experiences human development. This article pro- art history from the University of Hous- and begin to acknowledge the impact vides one explicit example of how the ton, and received her M.Ed. from the Er- of trauma in their educational past 1998 passage of the Workforce Invest- ikson Institute of Loyola of Chicago. She and to form corrective, supportive ment Act enshrined higher test scores has worked with autistic children, taught communities. In all these testimonies, as the main measure of program qual- special-education English in the public listening to women learners takes on ity and achievement. schools, and taught ESL to adults. She central importance. There are stories Mary V. Alfred’s contribution, was the vice president of the Dane Coun- of empowerment through ingenious “Empowering Women Through Voice: ty Women’s Political Caucus in the late strategies to build literacy in a recov- Low-Income Women Speak About 1970s. She has published poetry in Mo- ery house. The contribution from the Work, [Non]Education, Poverty, and bius, The Poetry Magazine; Branch Center for Immigrant Families outlines Welfare Reform,” is a particularly Redd Review; Hummingbird; how a community came together in a strong critique of present education and Verse Wisconsin. She has poetry literacy project to overcome Clinton and welfare policies. The sweeping forthcoming in Blue Unicorn.] Administration laws that “had a dire changes enacted in 1996 imposed strict effect on the lives of poor and working limitations on education programs, class people of color and immigrants, both limiting program content and FC readers interested in the particularly women” (p. 119). In all the enacting time limits for support before issue of women’s literacy may contributions, the lives of individuals recipients must find employment. The also want to look at these shine. barriers to empowerment and to the books: The third section, “Explorations workplace created by these changes are of Practice,” offers twelve essays: they legion; Alfred’s article contains an ex- Lorna Rivera, Laboring to include inquiries stemming from re- tensive list of them. Learn: Women’s Literacy and flections of practices based both on One important lesson this book Poverty in the Post-Welfare theory and on action research, as well offers the layperson is a warning that, Era. Urbana, IL: University of as personal testimonies that argue increasingly, the affective, motivational, Illinois Press, 2008. against prioritizing only skills-based and community aspects of literacy approaches to literacy. Some of the es- learning are being sacrificed to a more Beth Daniell & Peter says examine the negative impact of narrow, skills-based approach. Skills- Mortensen, Women and present practices that are infrequently based teaching ought to be just one Literacy: Local and Global reflected upon: attendance rules, for part of a broader approach to learning. Inquiries for a New Century. example, that fail to take into account The caution suggested by this book is New York: Lawrence Erlbaum many of the constraints that marginal- that a narrow approach is simply not Associates, 2007. ized women are up against. The impact effective for adult women; it marginal- of grief, trauma, and violence on learn- izes them, as it does their teachers. ing continue to be examined in this For teachers in adult literacy pro- section. Also here are articles providing grams, Empowering Women Through statistics about some of the effects of Literacy provides support as well as a current educational and welfare policies.

Page 14 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Book Reviews

Women In Prison

by Frances M. Kavenik

Silja J.A. Talvi, Women Behind Bars: The Crisis of Women in the U.S. Prison System. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press, 2007. 382p. bibl. index. pap., $15.95, ISBN 978-1580051958.

Jody Raphael, Freeing Tammy: Women, Drugs, and Incarceration. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England/Northeastern University Press, 2007. 232p. bibl. index. pap., $24.95, ISBN 978-1555536732.

Victoria Law, Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women. Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2009. 288p. bibl. index. pap., $20.00, ISBN 978-1604860184.

Suvarna Cherukuri, Women in Prison: An Insight into Captivity and Crime. New Delhi: Foundation Books/Cambridge University Press India Pvt. Ltd., 2008. 160p. bibl. index. $34.00, ISBN 978-8175965478.

Kathleen A. Cairns, Hard Time at Tehachapi: California’s First Women’s Prison. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2009. 224p. $27.95, ISBN 978-0826345721.

It has been quite a few years issues, yet all three use the voices of “Living in the God Pod.” She covers since I taught students at Taycheedah incarcerated and formerly incarcerated a range of important topics, such as and Ellsworth Correctional Institutes, women, as well as those of corrections health issues (including mental health), the primary women’s prisons in Wis- professionals and other scholars and the “war” on drugs (and its responsi- consin, but reading the five books un- researchers, to talk about women in bility for incarcerating an exponential der review here leads me to believe that prison in the early twenty-first century. increase in women), sexual abuse, nothing has changed in the world of motherhood and parenting issues, and women’s incarceration, except for the Talvi, in Women Behind Bars: the transporting of women to prisons worse. In the United States we impris- The Crisis of Women in the U.S. Prison far from home and family (in response on more and more women each year, System, employs the most documentary to overcrowding and other economic under harsher, less humane conditions, approach, in keeping with her back- considerations). and focus ever more intently on pun- ground as an investigative journalist ishment rather than reclamation. The and essayist. She dedicates her work The many statistics cited in fact that this process has failed both “to all the girls and women who never this volume are consistent with those society and the women themselves made it out” (p. vii). Talvi interviewed in the other texts. Here’s a sampling: seems not to concern the politicians or about 110 incarcerated women and “one of every thirty-two Americans the general public who turn a blind eye girls over a two-year period, received is under correctional supervision” to the black hole in their midst. Nearly letters from 300 women prisoners, and “one quarter of the entire world’s unbearable as it was to read these interviewed more than a dozen ex-pris- inmates are contained in U.S. jails books, I found myself wanting every- oners, and visited numerous prisons and prisons” (p. xiv); incarceration of one else to read them too. around the U.S. and three abroad. women increased 757 percent during Three of these in particular seem Her perspective is perhaps broader and a time when men’s incarceration rate most suitable for general readers and more comprehensive than that of the only doubled (p. xv); a quarter of the for students in entry-level women’s other two general-purpose texts; at the prison population is “locked up on studies courses: Silja Talvi’s Women same time, her use of extensive quota- drug-related charges” (p. 23); and the Behind Bars, Jody Raphael’s Freeing tions from the women she interviewed vast majority of those incarcerated are Tammy, and Victoria Law’s Resistance add life and body to her assertions and people of color. Women prisoners of Behind Bars. Each of the three authors conclusions. color are also likely to be semi-literate, takes a different approach to the sub- Many of Talvi’s chapters have heads of their households, and home- ject, and in that respect they provide catchy titles: “Here’s Your One-Way less, and draconian laws have limited complementary perspectives on the Ticket to Prison,” for instance, and their access to higher education, public

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 15 Book Reviews

ters are organized chronologi- I knew something was wrong cally, beginning with Tammy’s when I didn’t have any more arrest and conviction and end- homework or during summer ing with her self-reclamation breaks and Christmas breaks and new life. I was still in the basement. I For example, we hear would wake up, get my coffee, about Tammy’s introduction and I would go to the basement. to Cook County Jail, where And I would come up from the she endures thirty days of basement whenever my son came nightmare between conviction home from school, and if he and sentencing: didn’t come home from school if he had activities, I’d come up Tammy’s new residence when it was dark. In my mind, I was a jail cell, a ten-by- was still in the dark. I was hid- ten-foot cinderblock room ing so the world couldn’t see me. with a bunk bed set with Same thing as being on drugs, pencil-thin mattresses. A only I didn’t have the drugs. narrow window at one end Trapped forever. It was all the was covered by a mesh so same big ball of despair and deg- thick that no light came radation and embarrassment and through. Guards used a humiliation. I was encompassed small slot, a three-inch- in that circle, and I couldn’t by-twelve-inch slit in the break through that circle, so cell’s steel door, to moni- everywhere I looked I felt that housing, food stamps, and TANF after tor the prisoners. A steel humiliation, I felt the degrada- their release (p. 276). toilet, without lid or seat, and tion, I felt the embarrassment. Talvi provides thorough endnotes a small sink completed the (p. 112) and an extensive bibliography of texts cell’s furnishings. Apparently and videos, all of which should be at one time or other prisoners Of the first three books, this helpful to students wishing to explore had removed seats and toilet one is most clear about the impact on the issues further. bowl covers and used them as children of incarcerating their moth- Jody Raphael takes a different weapons, resulting in their cur- ers, by focusing one chapter entirely on approach, in Freeing Tammy: Women, rent ban. To keep the mice out, Tammy’s son Terrence, who also paid Drugs, and Incarceration, to demon- everyone stuffed towels under for his mother’s mistakes. Even more strating the realities of incarcerated the doors. (p. 24) importantly, it shows the impact of women. Telling Tammy’s story in the abandoned children on society overall: third person, but incorporating many Meanwhile, Rafael offers commen- direct quotations from Tammy’s diaries tary and context for Tammy’s revela- Children love even the most and interviews, Raphael shows how an tions, such as, “Tammy didn’t know it neglectful parents; the separa- intelligent woman stumbles into the then, but this was her first encounter tion will be experienced on a system through a series of bad deci- with the new penology, America’s cur- deeply emotional level, with sions and mistaken loyalties. The story, rent retreat from rehabilitation to the the possibility of lifetime ad- which reads like an extended narrative deliberate infliction of prison pain, in- verse impact. Nell Bernstein, autobiography, depends for its emo- tended to punish wrongdoers” (p. 35). a journalist who has studied tional impact on our sympathy for and But for the most part, Rafael al- the issue for over five years, empathy with the protagonist, an artic- lows Tammy to report her own experi- [says that] “the main thing that ulate and sensitive middle-aged Black ences, and particularly their emotional I’ve learned from talking to so woman negotiating the criminal justice impact — for instance, about the pe- many kids, which should be so system without a safety net. Its chap- riod when she literally hid in her base- obvious, is that these are the ment after leaving prison: parents they’ve got. These are

Page 16 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Book Reviews

could also be used in a creative migrant detention, women’s work in writing or communications prison, grievances and lawsuits, and course. women’s media. Every chapter in the Victoria Law’s Resistance book, she explains, “focuses on an issue Behind Bars is the most radi- that the women themselves have iden- cal of this first group of texts, tified as important” (p. iv). calling not for prison reform I found the chapter on women’s but prison eradication: “This work compelling: Law quotes Cali- book should not be mistaken fornia federal prisoner Marilyn Buck’s for a call for more humane or report that “‘[a] woman’s labor, with ‘gender responsive’ prisons. It few exceptions, is extremely alienated, is a long-overdue recognition exploited, and grossly underpaid,’” and of the actions that incarcerated adds that prison jobs “provide little to women themselves have taken no opportunity for women to learn job and are taking to challenge skills that can be used upon release” the injustices and abuses that (p. 97). Nor is higher education any accompany imprisonment” longer a means of opportunity, since (p. iv). Law states her ratio- grants providing college programs for nale again at the end of the prisoners were legislated out of exis- volume: tence in the 1990s (p. 82), particularly the Pell Grant program, which funded Calls for reform have most of the prison higher education failed to adequately ad- programs. It seems clear that if women dress the factors leading released from prison are to change their to women’s incarceration. lives and become “productive members the parents they love. And their Instead, they mask the of society,” they must receive either connections to those parents inequities and injustices are exactly as real and as deep inherent in the prison sys- as my connection to my kids. tem and have historically And I know that should go strengthened its capacity without saying, but it never and ability to separate does.” [Bernstein concludes,] and punish those who “We are able to lock people up transgress social mores, in the numbers that we do only particularly the poor, so long as we see them as use- people of color and other less — extraneous individuals marginalized populations. whom our society simply does (p. 168) not need. But the majority of prisoners are mothers and Like Talvi and Raphael, fathers; they are needed in the Law uses women’s stories and most fundamental way. The their own words — gathered, parent-child bond, beyond its in this case, over a seven- private importance to the indi- and-a-half-year period — to viduals who share it, is a social clarify and particularize the asset that must be valued and issues. She covers many of preserved.” (p. 102) the same topics that the other two do, including health care, Freeing Tammy, like Women Behind sexual abuse, mothers and Bars, is copiously footnoted and has an children, and education, but extensive bibliography for further re- has some unique chapters search and reading. Highly readable, it as well, dealing with im-

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 17 Book Reviews

serious job and skills training or educa- investigation of the Chanchalguda cal Considerations” before moving on tion. “Punishment” advocates prefer to women’s state prison in Hyderabad, to “Methodological Framework...” ignore this simple truth. the capital city of the southern state and then to a chapter called “Indian I also found the chapter entitled of Andhra Pradesh (p. vii, note 2). For Penitentiary and the Historiographical “Some Historical Background” en- this study Cherukuri interviewed forty- Silence About Women.” The last three lightening. Law points to the end of nine inmates, many of whom had been chapters present some of the women’s the U.S. Civil War, when “former slave convicted of “dowry crimes” against stories, analyze the prison system, and states passed...Black Codes” to control daughters-in-law or sisters-in-law. expand on Cherukuri’s conclusion that and imprison African Americans, re- “[p]risons are part of a larger societal placing slavery with penal servitude, network, and prisons in many ways as the beginning of today’s prison replicate the larger social ideologies system (pp. 159–60). This chapter also that define the moral boundaries for underscores how “imprisonment has women” (p. x). often been used as a means of gender Of the five chapters, the one pre- as well as social control” (p. 162), and senting the women’s own responses, shows that modern legislation of vari- Chapter 4, is the most interesting, but ous kinds — the “war on drugs,” “three it lacks analysis. Cherukuri remarks of- strikes,” “welfare reform,” and the ten about the caste differences between privatization of prisons — have con- the women inmates and outsiders, such tributed to the present crisis. as the prison staff, but never articulates Useful end-of-book features in- clearly how those differences affected clude a glossary, which defines terms her own research model. Typically, ranging from “administrative segrega- the inmates address the interviewer as tion” to “write-up”; resources, both “madam” and assert their innocence. national and local, in categories such This creates a sharp contrast with the as health, incarcerated mothers, and other books’ reliance on women pris- free books and reading materials, all oners’ own voices and self-understand- fully annotated; and a modest but solid ing. and annotated bibliography of useful I think Cherukuri is right, that books, periodicals, and reports. All of The author is clear about how this this book raises too many culturally these additions make this book a rich text should not be used: “The idea is specific issues for a general women’s classroom text. not to add ‘women from India’ into studies course. On the other hand, it the discourse of gender, race, and class, might be used in courses on marriage The other two books under re- On the contrary, the attempt is to ad- and the family, on India, or on interview here are more specialized in their dress multiple hegemonies — in this national studies focusing on women, approach to women in prison. Suvarna context including caste — explore largely because the whole notion of Cherukuri introduces Women in Prison: power structures that operate within dowry is so deeply embedded in In- An Insight into Captivity and Crime the Indian women’s prison, and the dian culture and society, and because with the legendary figure of Phoolan way these power structures define and woman-on-woman crime seems to be Devi, the “Bandit Queen” who became circumscribe the lives of women in a direct result of this cultural expecta- a cult figure in late twentieth-century prison” (pp. vii–viii). At the same time, tion. India. After her “Robin Hood” career, she does provide some information she surrendered to police, served her about prisons outside India, in Chapter Hard Time at Tehachapi: Califor- time in prison, and became a member 1, so that the reader unfamiliar with nia’s First Women’s Prison, perhaps the of Parliament; she was assassinated such systems has some background best-written of the five books reviewed in 2001. Cherukuri is interested in with which to understand the cultural in this essay, offers a coherent tale of Phoolan not only as a cult figure but similarities and differences. an experiment in dealing with female also as a woman who transgressed caste Of all the books under review, this offenders that was ahead of its time. and gender roles in a highly stratified one reads most like a scholarly exercise The experiment also demonstrated the patriarchal society; as such, Phoolan or master’s thesis, beginning with a barriers to feminist activism, mainly served as inspiration for Cherukuri’s literature review entitled “Theoreti- entrenched political, social, and eco-

Page 18 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Book Reviews nomic interests. For these reasons, The aftermath of the 1952 I think Hard Time would be an earthquake in Tehachapi of- excellent addition to a feminist his- fers evidence of the system’s tory or grassroots activism course. indifference toward female From the outset, Cairns notes inmates. Almost immediately, the irony of a “kinder, gentler and in spite of intense op- prison” being located in California: position from the town of “[D]espite its laissez faire reputa- Tehachapi, lawmakers made tion, California has seldom exhib- plans to rebuild the reforma- ited any charitable impulses toward tory and turn it into a men’s criminals, no matter what their prison. No one involved in gender. The state is, after all, proud the reconstruction appar- of its designation as a ‘three-strikes- ently thought it necessary and-you’re-out’ kind of place, no to dig through the rubble to matter how minor the offenses retrieve precious records. In might be” (p. 2). But the timing addition to demonstrating a was right, the Progressive Era was distinct lack of interest in the in full flower, and fifteen states and inmates, this oversight left a the federal government had opened gaping hole for future genera- separate women’s facilities after the tions of scholars. The records turn of the twentieth century when — or what remains of them, a group of clubwomen and mainly if anything — still lie buried female reformers started pushing beneath the remodeled ad- for a separate women’s “reformato- ministration building. ry” in California. If the timing was Virtually nothing exists to propitious at first, it soon turned Cairns offers a provocative blend tell us who these women were, sour, and by 1933 the political and so- of feminist and social history, with a where they came from, their cial winds had shifted to critical perspective and wry wit that ethnic or family backgrounds, overlays everything. She comments on the crimes they committed, the Jazz Age flouting of Prohi- San Quentin: “Purchased in 1851, the their living arrangements and bition and growth of an illegal year after California became a state, it relationships at Tehachapi. (p. underground economy based seemed a virtually perfect location. Iso- 13) on drugs and alcohol; anger at lated enough to keep inmates from try- “dangerous radicals” including to escape across the bay to ‘sinful’ Infuriating for the historian, this indif- ing union organizers; a deep San Francisco, it was accessible to the ference suggests a prevailing attitude depression that fueled a spike city by ferry, enabling future employees toward these women that borders on in criminal behavior by both to belly up to numerous bars on their amnesia. They were, and remain, soci- genders. By the 1930s few re- days off” (p. 19). While sympathetic ety’s discards. formers still openly argued for to the reformers and their aims, she is Yet Cairns manages to unearth the “perfectibility” of human clear about their deficiencies. She also evidence of the women’s own voices, nature, or social “uplift.” Com- uses personality profiles of the impor- and she devotes a whole chapter to the plaints of “coddling” hardened tant players, like Rose Wallace, Miriam prison newspaper, the Clarion. She as- criminals could be heard with Van Waters, and others, to clarify and serts that some frequency, but state of- highlight their individual effort and ficials had committed to the dedication. [p]rison newspapers…served reformatory and so it opened, As a history text, Hard Time il- the interests of inmates. While more or less on schedule. (p. 5) lustrates the difficulty of gathering in- resenting a system that tried to formation, especially about those with silence them and forced them In 1952, after an earthquake, the no status: into lockstep conformity, they women were moved to a new facility at Corona.

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 19 Book Reviews

could not openly resist without read it may find something in less from prison and from each risking their future freedom. its pages that will create a kind- other.” The “move to gender Engaging in sex with other lier feeling toward those who equality,” Gartner and Krutt- inmates, fighting, destroying having failed along the way are schnitt concluded, has created a property, talking back, even finding the way back…Within climate of cruelty. (p. 175) malingering or faking illness ourselves lies victory or defeat.” brought swift punishment and (p. 119) Cairns’s own position is clear. Basically, the loss of precious good-time she asserts, historically men’s prisons credits. Writing for newspapers In the final chapter, “After Te- became more like female prisons: gave them the ability to express hachapi,” Cairns’s conclusions are very their individuality in safe ways, similar to those of the other writers As female inmates sank beneath while also suggesting that they whose work I have reviewed in this the radar screen, their male had mastered the behavior nec- essay: “Tehachapi partly foundered counterparts reaped many of essary to demonstrate their suc- on divisions among women, on the the benefits of their ideas and cessful rehabilitation. (p. 102) realization that women did not com- programs. Though most pris- prise a single class. The current crop ons in today’s tough-on-crime In a study hampered by lack of of women’s prisons, it seems, may be environment have abandoned reliable evidence, the Clarion is a wel- foundering on its opposite: the no- any notion of “coddling,” the come source, although, unfortunately, tion that women should be exactly rehabilitative model created by “fewer than two dozen issues of the equal to men” (p. 174). And the result, women [at Tehachapi] remains Clarion’s Tehachapi years survive, vir- Cairns suggests, is to make incarcerated a model of what prisons could tually all from the 1940s” (p. 107). women more like incarcerated men. A be, in a better world. (p. 12) Nonetheless, Cairns culls much from survey of women prisoners at Corona this limited material. She concludes, in 1963 and in 1998, using the same Ultimately, these five books show questions, found striking differences: the gaps in America’s understanding For women imprisoned at of and engagement with the truth the California Institution for Responses from the earlier sur- about men and women who commit Women, the Clarion served vey revealed a more communal crime. In Wisconsin, for example, we many purposes. It entertained, and trusting environment. incarcerate two-and-a-half times more instructed, and uplifted. It pro- No longer. Nineteen-nineties offenders than does neighboring Min- vided a creative outlet for po- inmates revealed a deep dis- nesota, which has about the same pop- ets, artists, and writers. It less- trust, both of staff members ulation. Once they are in “the system,” ened the loneliness and sense and of each other. Gartner and these people are ignored and forgotten of isolation and gave inmates Kruttschnitt [the researchers] until they offend again, and again. a crucial sense of community. attributed the changes to the In personalizing and humanizing the Most importantly, it was an overall effort to make women’s women behind bars, these books are a invaluable forum that enabled prisons just like men’s. Half the wake-up call, a reminder that we need them to present themselves as wardens working at Corona are to deal with society’s problems, not just ordinary people, complex and now men. None receive special rely on short-term and short-sighted flawed — neither the paragons training for work at a women’s solutions. nor the monsters portrayed in prison, but go through the various forms of popular me- same program as all other Note dia. As writer Isa Lang noted, prison employees, leading to “The Clarion is small in com- “greater distance and detach- 1. Editorial, Kenosha News, May 2, parison to many other penal ment in staff relations with 2010, p. B6. publications, but ‘good stuff is prisoners.” Additionally, “as the done up in little packages,’ as prison became less ambitious [Frances M. Kavenik is an emeritus the old saying goes. As it goes in its goals and lowered its professor of English at the University of forth each month, it is with the expectations of prisoners, pris- Wisconsin–Parkside.] sincere prayer that those who oners in turn came to expect

Page 20 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) The Maine Women Writers Collection at the University of New England by Jennifer S. Tuttle & Cally Gurley

In 1959, at what was then and an ambitious goal: to preserve and Maine, instead of allowing it to be sold Westbrook Junior College for women, provide access to writing, letters, and or deposited out of state. The MWWC English professor and college pres- memorabilia by Maine women writers includes many types of material rep- ident’s assistant Dorothy M. Healy — both those who were famous and resenting women and the numerous (1904–1990) invited fellow literature those who were more obscure. It was academic and cultural subject areas professor Grace A. Dow (1901–1995) one of the first collections of its kind reflected in their work — a unique to accompany her English novel class in the country, and its growth has been cross-section of U.S. literary history. It on a field trip to Colby College to see bolstered and enriched by the rise of has served a broad user base for many the Thomas Hardy collection there. On women’s studies in the academy and years: students and faculty, outside re- the return trip, Dow suggested starting by the women’s movements of the past searchers from many disciplines, casual a collection of Maine women’s writing fifty years. visitors, and friends patronize the Col- at Westbrook. The two women met lection in a variety of ways. The diver- with college president Edward Blewett Mission sity of the collection accounts for its the next day, and he was enthusiastic. The mission of the Collection wide appeal and prospects of continued “I thought before things were lost en- is to honor and preserve writing and strength, recognition, and relevance to tirely,” Grace Dow explained, “it would other forms of cultural production by academic trends. be a good idea to get together all that and about Maine women, as well as we can.”1 to promote research and study on the Holdings Thus began a collection devoted lives and work of these women and The MWWC now has nearly to honoring and preserving writing by the culture of their times. One of the 8,000 volumes on more than 500 women, material that otherwise was central aims in collecting such work is Maine women writers. Its holdings not taken seriously and was at risk of to give it a secure, accessible home in are especially strong in nineteenth and being lost and forgotten. twentieth-century As Sandra M. Gilbert resources. Published explains, Healy and Dow material ranges from established the Collec- rare books, pam- tion over fifty years ago, phlets, and broad- “before the so-called sec- sides to newspapers ond wave of the women’s and literary and movement produced so popular journals. much feminist theory Among the Collec- that would allow us to tion’s unpublished analyze and understand materials are travel collections like this one. journals, diaries, cor- So the people who found- respondence, photo- ed it...had great foresight graphs, manuscripts, and fabulous historical artwork, material and critical imagina- culture, memora- tions.”2 The Maine bilia, artists’ books, Women Writers Collec- and organizational tion (MWWC) was sup- records. Some of the ported by a $400 budget Dorothy Healy and Grace Dow with Westbrook Junior College literature students, subject areas most ca. 1965; from the Collection

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 21 Maine Women Writers Collection deeply represented are women’s liter- Wood, and global ary and social history, the suffrage and family issues writer women’s movements, women’s health Perdita Huston. Re- and medicine, women’s sexuality, na- cently, the MWWC ture and the environment, women’s has developed new education, spiritualism, New England initiatives in the area studies, children’s literature, and Maine of collection develop- history. May Sarton once commended ment, with the aim of Dorothy Healy on having brought to diversifying our hold- the Collection both “treasure from ings to make them the past and recognition to writers more inclusive. We of the present.”3 “Treasure from the are actively seeking to past” is everywhere to be found in the strengthen our range Collection’s holdings, which include of materials repre- rare copies of novels by and the only senting, for example, known daguerreotype of Maine’s first women of color, novelist, Sally Sayward Barrell Keating Franco American Wood; the Sarah Orne Jewett Collec- women, immigrant tion, featuring Jewett’s earliest known women, working- writings as well as correspondence with class women, and Annie Adams Fields, among many oth- women writing in ers; and the Josephine Diebitsch Peary new genres. Such Collection, reflecting a rich selection work includes the of both literary and material culture Donna Loring Pa- related to Peary’s life and her experi- pers, illuminating the ence on arctic expeditions prior to her career of this author husband’s race to be the first to reach and Vietnam veteran the North Pole. Now itself a treasure who served as the of the past, the May Sarton Collec- Penobscot Nation tion includes a variety of manuscript representative to the Page handwritten by Sarah Orne Jewett from Country of the Pointed Firs, ca. 1896; from the Collection and published material, along with Maine Legislature for a significant portion of her personal twelve years. We are library. At the MWWC one may also currently launching History find book and manuscript material by an oral history project designed to pre- The first item to find a home in and about Louise Bogan, Rachel Car- serve the stories of Maine women from the Maine Women Writers Collec- son, Elizabeth Coatsworth, Fanny Fern underrepresented groups. And we are tion was Edna St. Vincent Millay’s (Sara Payson Willis Parton), Dahlov building dynamic collections of new volume A Few Figs from Thistles: Poems Ipcar, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Ruth literary forms such as zines and artists’ and Sonnets, a gift from the personal Moore, Elizabeth Oakes Smith, Harriet books. Our holdings are particularly collection of Dorothy Healy and her Prescott Spofford, Ann Sophia Stevens, rich in the latter, highlights being husband, John. With their $400 bud- Harriet Beecher Stowe, Margaret Jane work by Martha A. Hall and Rebecca get in hand, housing the Collection Mussey Sweat, Celia Laighton Thaxter, Goodale. Our collection policy strives, in “cramped quarters” that “migrated 4 and Kate Douglas Wiggin, to name then, to strike a balance between re- from location to location on campus,” but a few. flecting the diversity of literary and Healy and Dow built the MWWC Likewise committed to recogniz- cultural resources of Maine and focus- with fearless enthusiasm. From 1959 to ing “writers of the present,” the Collec- ing on a number of special subjects, 1967, Dow served as the Collection’s tion holds the papers of contemporary material types, and writers whose work first curator; Healy was also centrally writers such as Cathie Pelletier, Monica is of special interest. involved in the enterprise during that

Page 22 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Maine Women Writers Collection

significantly expanded 2010), with Roberta Gray stepping public exposure to the in as acting curator during interim MWWC. The year-long periods. This year marks a new begin- project, titled “A Goodly ning for the Collection as we welcome Heritage,” was directed a new curator, Cathleen Miller, while by Karin Woodruff of Cally Gurley moves into the role of the Department of Lan- directing a newly established Depart- guage and Literature at ment of Special Collections at the Uni- Westbrook College. It versity of New England (UNE). Over involved lectures, original the last twenty years, these curators plays, and other program- have worked in concert with the Healy ming about a wide array Professors and a small army of support of Maine women writers personnel to catalog, organize, and represented in the Col- improve access to the MWWC’s hold- lection. In 1986, Healy ings, developing both internal activities shepherded the MWWC and public programs. This focused into a new and more ap- work maintained the MWWC’s good propriate location in the health throughout its development and Josephine P. Abplanalp through the merger of Westbrook Col- Library at Westbrook lege with UNE in 1996. The MWWC Grace Dow, in the Maine Women Writers Collection, College. Her most signifi- has since been designated a National ca. 1965; from the Collection cant achievement, how- Literary Landmark by Friends of Li- ever, was work that led to braries USA. time. On the collaboration between the creation Dow and Healy, Westbrook College of an endowment fund alumna Louise Parker James has noted, that would ensure the “It was the perfect coming together MWWC’s security into of an idea and someone who could the future. Established in make it happen.”5 Dorothy Healy’s 1991 by Portland philan- dynamism, creativity, and personal thropist John Payson, a connections are widely credited for longtime friend of Healy, building the Collection: she acted on the endowment has pro- a deep love of and wide familiarity vided the MWWC with with literary culture and she nurtured a state-of-the-art facility, relationships with authors, donors, and a budget for acquisitions book dealers. Notable among the latter and programming, a group is Portland’s Francis O’Brien, full-time curator, and a who supplied the first one thousand professorship of literature volumes — the foundation of the Col- named for Healy. lection — and who continued to work In the two decades with Healy on subsequent acquisitions. since Healy’s death, Many flyleaves in the Collection con- the MWWC has been tain lightly penciled notes in O’Brien’s well served by curators hand. Mary Anne Wallace Healy was curator herself from (1990–1996), Nancy 1967 to her death in 1990. A highlight Noble (1996–1997), Pat of her tenure was a 1981–1982 grant Milligan (1997–1999), Dorothy Healy at her desk, ca. 1965; for statewide programming from the and Cally Gurley (1999– from the Westbrook College History Collection Maine Humanities Council, which

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 23 Maine Women Writers Collection

Dorothy M. Healy Pro- Farley Kessler served as Acting Healy fessorship Chair while Tuttle was on sabbatical The imaginative leave. vision of the Healy En- dowment creators to Facility pair a literature expert The collection now holds almost with this library resource 8,000 volumes and 500 linear feet of established a premium manuscript material, memorabilia, ob- on scholarly leadership jects, and furnishings. It is located in a for the collection. The wing of the Abplanalp Library on the Healy Professor’s charge Portland campus of the University of is to promote, develop, New England (of Biddeford and Port- and encourage use of land, Maine). Renovated in 2000, the the MWWC. As faculty secure and climate-controlled facility director of the Collec- measures approximately 2000 square tion, the Healy Professor feet. It includes storage areas, a pro- not only helps to shape cessing area, a curator’s office, public collection development and reference areas, a reading room, policy and informs pro- and an exterior patio. The facility has gramming decisions, but continued to develop as a center for also provides a conduit, study, discussion, scholarly interaction, operating in both direc- realization of the teaching mission of tions, between this spe- the University, and development of a Well-known Maine author and Smith College professor Mary Ellen cial library collection and rich reservoir of cultural resources. Our Chase, ca. 1920; from the Collection the world of academe. programming reflects this, with pub- Working outward, the licly accessible readings, lectures, and a In 2009, the MWWC celebrated Healy Professor publi- creative writing workshop program. its fiftieth anniversary with a sympo- cizes the MWWC and makes its value sium titled “Women in the Archives: intelligible to scholars, delivers public Access Using Archival Collections in Research talks related to the MWWC, and One of the most appreciated and Teaching on U.S. Women.” Since works with faculty to integrate its hold- aspects of the collection is its welcom- 1982, the Collection has been sponsor- ings into the undergraduate curriculum ing and accessible facility: although ing academic conferences, some inter- at the University of New England and visitors must make appointments to national in scope, on topics relevant to at neighboring institutions. Working do research, the facility in Portland is its holdings, from individual authors, inward, she brings researchers to the pleasant to work in and fairly easy to such as May Sarton and Sarah Orne Collection through hosting conferences find. The Collection staff pride them- Jewett, to themes, such as women’s and symposia, supervising a research selves on the research support that they health, women’s friendship, and wom- support grant program, and otherwise provide individually. This dedication to en’s nature writing. The program for stimulating research in the MWWC’s the needs of researchers most notably the Fiftieth Anniversary Symposium, holdings. Through spring of 2001, sev- distinguishes the Maine Women Writ- along with a forum, photo album, and eral scholars contributed their expertise ers Collection. list of relevant archival repositories, is as visiting Healy Professors: Bradford Collection books are cataloged posted on the MWWC website. This Dudley Daziel, Sheila Curran Bernard, in the UNE Library Services online celebration also featured the premiere Karen Kilcup, Janet Varner Gunn, catalog (http://lilac.une.edu; search of the film The Maine Women Writers Judith McGraw, Margret Spratt, Susan “author=‘Maine Women Writers Col- Collection: The First Fifty Years, which Goodman, and Jonathan Handelman. lection’”). Archival collection records explores the MWWC’s history in the Jennifer S. Tuttle began serving in the can be found on the website: www. larger context of local and national fall of 2001 as the permanent Dorothy une.edu/mwwc/research/findingaid. developments in U.S. culture and aca- M. Healy Professor of English; Carol cfm. The patron-focused philosophy of deme.6 Page 24 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Maine Women Writers Collection the UNE Libraries ensures that visitors’ 4. Gael May McKibben & William duce I Make Books, a film exploring her research will be given top priority and David Barry, “Dorothy Healy: A Bio- artists’ books about living with breast will benefit from all research assistance graphical Sketch,” in A Passionate In- cancer (dir. Hollis Haywood & Kari at the Library’s disposal. tensity, p. 9. Wagner [University of New England More information about the Media Services and Maine Women MWWC is available on our website: 5. The Maine Women Writers Collection: Writers Collection, 2004]). www.une.edu/mwwc. The First Fifty Years. [Jennifer S. Tuttle is the Dorothy M. Notes 6. To order this film, please contact Healy Chair and Associate Professor of Cally Gurley, Director of Special Col- English at the University of New Eng- 1. The Maine Women Writers Collection: lections, by phone, email, or mail: land, where she also directs the Women’s The First Fifty Years. The Maine Wom- (207) 221-4324; [email protected] and Gender Studies Program. Beyond en Writers Collection, 2009. Film. (write “film order” in the subject line); UNE, she serves as a coeditor of Legacy: The Maine Women Writers Collection, A Journal of American Women Writ- 2. The Maine Women Writers Collection: Abplanalp Library, Portland Campus, ers. Cally Gurley served as curator of the The First Fifty Years. University of New England, 716 Ste- Maine Women Writers Collection from vens Avenue, Portland, ME 04103. We 1999 until June of 2010, at which time 3. May Sarton, “Life-Enhancing Doro- will ship the film free of charge; we are she became the director of the University thy,” in A Passionate Intensity: The Life especially interested in seeing it placed of New England’s Department of Special and Work of Dorothy Healy, ed. Gael in institutional and library collections. Collections (which of course includes May McKibben & William David Bar- This is the second film created by the MWWC). Cathleen Miller, of the ry (Portland, ME: The Baxter Society, the MWWC. In 2004 we worked with Historical Society of Pennsylvania, is the 1992), p. 14. Martha A. Hall (1949–2003) to pro- MWWC’s new curator.]

MWWC Researcher John Davis and daughter studying the papers of Josephine Diebitsch Peary

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 25 Women’s Compositions Online: Five Digital Collections by Susan Wood

Online, freely available, digital ing. Users can also search and sort the is to make available, free of charge, a collections of women’s writing, speech- material by author, date, geographical “completely vetted, historically accurate es, and music abound. These collec- location, genre, and more. digital version of [Sanger’s] papers [that tions have been conceived, funded, Digital collection content, like will] conform to established standards, constructed, and maintained by gov- the content of collections in a physical both in terms of technical features of ernmental and non-governmental orga- library, has been curated and vetted for its encoding, and in terms of provid- nizations, academic institutions, muse- authoritativeness. Not all digital collec- ing accurate renderings of the texts.”4 ums, public archives, and individuals. tions have been created from existing In addition, it is noted in the mission Here I present brief descriptions of five analog documents; some content is statement that “these speeches and ar- such collections of women’s composi- born digital, while some has been digi- ticles are of interest to both [Sanger’s] tions that are suitable for both students tized from analog sources. In the case supporters and detractors, and among and scholarly researchers. Representing of digitized content, a collection may the materials readers and researcher[s] digital projects begun in the late 1990s include editorial information identify- seek most.”5 This statement provides a through 2007, these collections are ing the exact copy used in the digitiza- neutral, scholarly context for the docu- presented here to demonstrate a range tion process and its physical location. ments, as opposed to a laudatory one, of the primary materials available, as Often the technical details of the and succinctly captures the complexity well as to provide information on the digitization process are provided — for of feminist interest in Sanger’s work discovery tools embedded in them. example, the type of scanner and the rather than portraying feminist schol- They are a sample from a larger project scan settings. Including these details arship as arising from a monolithic, in which I am exploring the question assures the researcher of the validity undifferentiated perspective. of how the organizational and repre- and authority of the material. Tran- The collection is searchable in sentational features of women’s digital scriptions, translations, and images of multiple ways. A researcher may view a collections affect the ways in which the print sources offer a variety of ways full list of the documents, or search by content created by women is discov- to navigate and use the documents. In keyword in title or in full text, limit by ered and perceived by researchers.1 addition, the creators of digital collec- document type, date range, and source A digital collection is more than a tions may make an effort to ensure the of publication, or browse a subject in- website. While basic websites offer con- longevity and stability of the content dex. The relevance of a keyword search tent, digital collections offer content by using encoding and archiving stan- can be ascertained by comparing the plus services. The services offered differ dards that meet best practices.2 The subject terms provided at the footer of from collection to collection and in- collections described here exhibit vari- each document with the keyword. This clude annotations of the content in the ous combinations of these tools and minimizes the problem of relevance in form of critical analyses and summa- services. keyword searching, in which a docu- ries, as well as supplemental informa- ment containing the keyword in dis- tion, such as biographies and informa- The Public Writings of Marga- parate passages is retrieved on an equal tion on the historical and geographical ret Sanger, 1911–1960, http://www. basis with documents that are more context of the works. Discovery fea- nyu.edu/projects/sanger/webedition/ consistently about the particular topic tures such as robust indexing allow for app/, is part of a “historical editing searched. more sophisticated searches than are project”3 of the Department of His- provided by a simple “search the site” tory at New York University. The site Documents from the Women’s box. For example, the documents can currently offers 266 accessible docu- Liberation Movement: An Online Ar- be accessed by keyword and subject ments, including a selection of Sanger’s chival Collection, http://scriptorium. searches, as well as by full-text search- speeches, published articles, and manu- lib.duke.edu/wlm/, presents fifty-six scripts. The goal of this digital project digitized and transcribed versions of

Page 26 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Women’s Compositions Online

documents held by Duke University’s African American Women Writ- in China. The mission of the collection Special Collections Library. The stated ers of the 19th Century, http://digital. includes the recognition that “most scope and purpose of the collection is nypl.org/schomburg/writers_aa19/ writings by women in pre-modern to provide an “on-line archival collec- toc.html, is a project of the Schom- China have suffered from neglect… tion [to] document various aspects of burg Center for Research in Black Cul- making it difficult to carry out exten- the Women’s Liberation Movement in ture at the New York Public Library. sive and efficient research on women’s the United States, and focus specifically Begun in the late 1990s, the digital history and culture.”8 Preservation, as on the radical origins of this move- collection contains fifty-two published well as dissemination, is part of the ment during the late 1960s and early works by thirty-seven African Ameri- project’s mission. The collection con- 1970s.”6 The documents represent a can women. The mission of the project sists of ninety titles of mixed genres, range of materials, from the meeting includes a recognition that the interest spanning the seventeenth through early minutes and newsletters of grassroots in African American writing in the twentieth centuries. Genres include po- women’s groups like the Cleveland 1960s resulted in reprints primarily etry, a verse novel, letters, prose, songs, Radical Women’s Group, the New of men’s writing; “Lesser-known black and “remarks on poetry.” The scanned York Radical Women, and the Black women were generally over-looked… documents are also useful for research- Unity Party of Peekskill, New York, to [and] this collection provides access to ers interested in printing and publish- articles in publications such as No More the thought, perspectives and creative ing trends in Late Imperial China. Fun and Games: A Journal of Female abilities of black women as captured in A very detailed and helpful ex- Liberation and the Redstockings’ Femi- books and pamphlets published prior planation of the robust search utilities nist Revolution (New York: Random to 1920…[for] the researcher or casual and arrangement of materials is avail- House, 1978). Original versions of reader.”7 able in the “Introduction” and on the speeches, presentations, and writing by This origin of the collection is ex- “Search Help” screens, including tips well-known and lesser-known feminist ceedingly well-documented and trans- on browsing, how to create a query for politicians, academics, and activists are parent, with links pointing to funding content analysis, and notes on the his- among some of the primary source ma- sources, acknowledgements, technical torical periods represented. A user can terials available. information, editorial methods, and click on individual titles or browse by Each document includes images more. Each document is displayed with title of collection, title within collec- of the print work alongside the tran- digitized images of the print source, tion, personal name, poem title, tune scribed copy, allowing researchers to and the original formatting is main- pattern (songs), title of illustrations, view the document in context without tained. Categories for browsing the year span (Western calendar), histori- sacrificing readability. Search tools in- documents include title, author, and cal geographic location, genre, poetic clude browsing by categories, as well as genre; the full lists of titles can be dis- form, marital status of author, and eth- a simple keyword search. The keyword played as well. Supplementary material nic group of author. Users may search search returns links to the documents includes short biographies for each of by entering terms either as Chinese followed by short passages from the the authors, written by Tonya Bolden, characters or romanized in pinyin. The documents showing the keyword in the award-winning author of literature search features of this collection are bold type. Unlike the Sanger papers, for both children and adult readers. far and away the most sophisticated of these documents lack subject index Sophisticated search tools are not a these five collections and demonstrate terms, and the eight categories for strength of this collection, but brows- the potential for working with digitized browsing are broad and idiosyncratic: ing is sufficient for the relatively small primary sources. General and Theoretical, Medical and number of documents. Reproductive Rights, Music, Organi- Sophie: A Digital Library of zations and Activism, Sexuality and Ming Qing Women’s Writings, Works by German-Speaking Women, Lesbian Feminism, Women of Color, http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/min- http://sophie.byu.edu/, is a collection and Women’s Work and Roles. This gqing/english/, is a joint project of the created by the College of Humani- collection is not continually updated, McGill Digitization Team at McGill ties at Brigham Young University. The but the scanned documents and tran- University and the Harvard-Yenching mission of the project is to address the scriptions offer students and scholars Library. The purpose of the collection problem of “marginalized authors, texts online access to materials representing is to make available to the scholarly and creative works in the academic the issues, ideas, and activism of sec- community a body of writing, held at curriculum and in scholarly research ond-wave feminism. Harvard-Yenching Library, by women agendas,” in recognition of the issue

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 27 Women’s Compositions Online within the field of German Studies that unique material for classroom instruc- 4. Margaret Sanger Papers Project, “women artists and authors have tradition in languages, creative writing, mu- “Documents Online, Electronic Edi- tionally been excluded from the canon, sic, and information literacy. Overall, tion (in production),” http://www. [and] until recently, relatively little there is a wealth of primary sources in nyu.edu/projects/sanger/publica- scholarly effort has been invested in the these collections made easily accessible tions/electronic_ed/speeches_and_ study of their works,” resulting in poor to both students and scholars. articles.html. access to materials.9 The works include out-of-copy- Notes 5. The Public Writings of Margaret right and out-of-print early texts Sanger, 1911-1960, “About the digital (1743–1920) by German-speaking 1. This review is part of a larger proj- edition,” http://www.nyu.edu/proj- women arranged by genre: Literature, ect, geared to a library and information ects/sanger/search/abouted.html. Music, Journalism, Colonial/Travel, sciences audience, in which I analyze and Drama/Film. Types of material digital collections of women’s com- 6. Documents from the Women’s available include musical scores, re- positions from the point of view of Liberation Movement, http://scripto- cordings, concert programs, and film Hannigan’s statement that “feminist rium.lib.duke.edu/wlm/#subject. summaries. Many of the analog sources scholarship involves looking at the are available at BYU Libraries, and the assumptions and biases, particularly 7. Digital Schomburg African Ameri- digitization process has been handled androcentric biases, incorporated in can Women Writers of the 19th Centu- in multiple ways. There are scanned theory and research, that directly affect ry, “Introduction,” http://digital.nypl. documents, transcriptions, some Eng- the ways libraries collect, store, and org/schomburg/writers_aa19/intro. lish translations, and recordings of disseminate materials and the choice of html. music (MP3 format). Supplemental services offered to users.” Janet Han- information, in the form of images of nigan, “A Feminist Standpoint for 8. M.M. Zheng, “McGill-Harvard- the authors and biographical and bib- Library and Information Science Edu- Yenching Library Joint Digitization liographical details, has been provided cation,” Journal of Education for Library Project: Minq-Qing Women’s Writ- sporadically. and Information Science, v. 35 (1994), ings,” Journal of East Asian Libraries, v. The documents may be browsed pp. 297–319 at 302. 7 (2006), pp. 36-40. by genre, and the entire collection may be searched by keyword. The site index 2. For example, Metadata Encoding 9. SOPHIE: A Digital Library of provides a useful interface for navigat- and Transmission Standard (METS), Works by German-Speaking Women, ing the collection, supplementing the Model Editions Project (MEP), and “About the Sophie Project,” http:// rather simple search tool. Each genre- Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). sophie.byu.edu/project/index. based collection also includes an index php?p=index.html. arranged alphabetically by author’s last 3. Margaret Sanger Papers Project, name and a helpful “Home” link that “About the project,” http://www.nyu. [Susan Wood is a recent graduate of the provides an overview of what types of edu/projects/sanger/aboutmspp/in- University of Tennessee’s School of Infor- texts each genre-area contains. dex.html. The Project is also working mation Sciences in Knoxville. She also These five collections demonstrate on a four-volume print work, Selected holds an M.A. in interdisciplinary studies a variety of primary sources suitable for Papers of Margaret Sanger, the first two with a concentration in women’s studies.] a range of researchers, from student to volumes of which have already been scholarly, as well as a range of research published by the University of Illinois orientations, from content analysis to Press. literary criticism to historical endeav- ors. These collections can also be put to a variety of pedagogical uses, providing

Page 28 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) E-Sources on Women & Gender

Our website (http://womenst.library.wisc.edu/) includes org/ftf/Amelia%20Bloomer2010%20final.pdf. (I want recent editions of this column and links to complete back the picture book about Louise, the adventurous chicken!) issues of Feminist Collections, plus many bibliographies, a Lists from the previous eight years are also downloadable: database of women-focused videos, and links to hundreds of http://libr.org/ftf/bloomer.html. other websites by topic. Information about electronic journals and maga- “In all European countries and beyond, women are having zines, particularly those with numbered or dated issues difficulties getting ahead in research careers,” say the writ- posted on a regular schedule, can be found in our “Periodi- ers of THE GENDER CHALLENGE IN RESEARCH cal Notes” column. FUNDING: ASSESSING THE EUROPEAN NATIONAL SCENES in the Executive Summary of this report, which “analyses the gender dynamics among applicants, recipients Blogs and gatekeepers of research funding, in funding processes, instruments and criteria, and the role of key funding organi- What could be better, in the world of feminist blog- sations in promoting gender equality in research.” Published ging, than a global feminist blog aggregator? feminist by the Office for Official Publications of the European blogs: independent alternatives to the Communities, 2009. 136p. ISBN 978-9279105999; http:// malestream media at http://feministblogs.org/ ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/ “collects articles from many smaller community hubs within pdf_06/the-gender-challenge-in-research-funding-re- the Feminist Blogs network.” Five hubs are represented, one port_en.pdf of which (“Feminist Blogs in English”) includes about a hundred different blogs! Check it out. “Disasters don’t discriminate, but people do. Existing socio-economic conditions mean that disasters can lead to GIRL WITH PEN (http://girlwpen.com/) “publicly and different outcomes even for demographically similar com- passionately dispels modern myths concerning gender, en- munities — but inevitably the most vulnerable groups suffer couraging other feminist scholars, writers, and thinkers to more than others. Research reveals that disasters reinforce, do the same.” This is quite the sophisticated blogging ven- perpetuate and increase gender inequality, making bad situa- ture, boasting a feminist-star-studded lineup of fourteen editions worse for women.” Thus begins MAKING DISASTER tors — Deborah Siegel, Virginia Rutter, Shira Tarrant, Ve- RISK REDUCTION GENDER-SENSITIVE: POLICY ronica Arreola, Allison Kimmich, Courtney Martin, Adina AND PRACTICAL GUIDELINES, a 2009 publication Nack, Heather Hewett, Elline Lipkin, Leslie Heywood, Alli- from the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster son McCarthy, Alison Piepmeier, Lori Rotskoff, and Natalie Reduction. Download the 163-page guide: http://www. Wilson — who post regularly here on different topics. Try preventionweb.net/files/9922_MakingDisasterRiskRe- matching the names above to the titles of the columns they ductionGenderSe.pdf write: “The Intersectional Feminist”; “Bedside Manners”; “Girl Talk”; “The Man Files”; “Mama w/Pen”; “Nice Work”; Publications of the NATIONAL WOMEN’S STUDIES “Science Grrl”; “Generation Next”; “Body Language”; “Off ASSOCIATION are now listed (with links) along with the Shelf”; “Global Mama”; “Pop Goes Feminism”; “Beyond other resources of interest under “Professional Resources” on Pink and Blue”; “The Xena Files.” the redesigned NWSA website at http://www.nwsa.org/research. These include, notably,TEACHING RESOURCES ON RACISM, WHITE PRIVILEGES, & ANTI-WHITE Books, Reports, & Other SUPREMACY: A PROJECT OF STOP DREAMING/ KEEP WORKING WORKSHOP, edited by Shu-Ju Ada Publications Cheng (2006, 195p.), and Introducing Women’s and Gender Studies: A Collection of The 2010 AMELIA BLOOMER LIST of “feminist books Teaching Resources, edited by Elizabeth M. Curtis for young readers” — recommended by the FEMINIST (2007, 280p.). PDFs for both of these resources as well as TASK FORCE of the American Library Association’s Social others can be downloaded from http://www.nwsa.org/re- Responsibility Round Table — is in PDF here: http://libr. search/publications/index.php.

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 29 E-Sources on Women & Gender

Women’s Refugee Commission, REFUGEE GIRLS: THE Other Sites of Interest INVISIBLE FACES OF WAR. Pearson Foundation, 2009. 48p. ISBN 1-58030-079-0. Download PDF from MONASTIC MATRIX: Not a new sci-fi film, but “an http://www.womensrefugeecommission.org/programs/ ongoing collaborative effort by an international group of youth/763-girlsstories. A sampling of section titles: “Girls scholars of medieval history, religion, history of art, archae- as Targets and Instruments of War,” “Fighting Isn’t Just for ology, religion, and other disciplines, as well as librarians Boys: Girls Go to War,” “Girls for Sale,” “Defending the and experts in computer technology...to document the par- Family Honor,” “Close Quarters: Life in a Refugee Camp,” ticipation of Christian women in the religion and society of “All We Want Is to Go to School,” “Their Bodies Are Not medieval Europe. In particular, we aim to collect and make Their Own,” “Finding a Permanent Home,” “Seeking Asy- available all existing data about all professional Christian lum, Finding Barriers,” and “Why There Is Cause for Great women in Europe between 400 and 1600 C.E.” The site at Hope.” http://monasticmatrix.usc.edu is coordinated by Lisa Bitel of the Department of History at the University of Southern TEACHING WITH GENDER, “a book series on learning California. and teaching in the interdisciplinary field of gender studies,” is published by ATHENA3 (the Advanced Thematic The SENTENCING PROJECT (“Research and Advocacy Network in Women’s Studies in Europe, the University of for Reform”) website at http://www.sentencingproject. Utrecht, and the Centre for Gender Studies at Stockholm org has a section devoted to WOMEN IN THE JUSTICE University). Seven of the eight books are free and down- SYSTEM that offers publications, news, advocacy materials, loadable in PDF (and in English) from http://www.su.se/ and the powerful personal stories of five women who have pub/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=10447&a=64480. Those titles are endured unjust treatment. One of the publications is a ten- Teaching Gender, Diversity and Urban Space. An Intersectional page compilation of statistics about women in the system Approach between Gender Studies and Spatial Disciplines; (e.g., “44% of women in state prison have neither graduated Teaching Gender in Social Work; Teaching Subjectivity: Trav- from high school nor received a GED”; “Only 4 in 10 wom- elling Selves for Feminist Pedagogy; Teaching with the Third en are able to find employment in the regular labor market Wave: New Feminists’ Explorations of Teaching and Institution- within one year of release”). al Contexts; Teaching Visual Culture in an Interdisciplinary Classroom: Feminist (Re) Interpretations of the Field; Teaching Compiled by JoAnne Lehman Empires: Gender and Transnational Citizenship in Europe; and Teaching Intersectionality: Putting Gender at the Centre.

Miriam Greenwald

Page 30 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) New Reference Works in Women’s Studies

Addiction This is not a book to hand and gender. The volume concludes to someone who needs a basic with an index. Kathleen T. Brady, Sudie E. Back, introduction; nor will it be useful to The experts who authored the & Shelly F. Greenfield, eds., women eager to help themselves or volume occasionally differ in the WOMEN AND ADDICTION: A others on the path to recovery. Nor conclusions they draw from the COMPREHENSIVE HANDBOOK. is it explicitly grounded in feminist literature. For example, the authors New York: Guilford Press, 2009. theory or politics. The text is heavy of the chapter on gender-specific 526p. index. $65.00, ISBN 978- with scientific terminology, concepts, treatment models emphasize that 1606231074. and acronyms. The advanced student “the effectiveness of gender-specific or researcher, however, will be very well programs for women on substance Reviewed by Susan E. Searing served. The editors group thirty review abuse treatment outcomes remains essays into seven sections. While there unclear based on the available In the 1980s, a number of books is some overlap in the sources cited, the literature” (p. 299), while the authors appeared that broke the prevailing individual chapters stand alone. Each of the chapter on alcoholism assert silence about women, alcoholism, and concludes with a helpful summary that “evidence is accumulating that drug addiction. A Woman Like You: of “key points” and a bibliography of such gender-specific alcohol treatment Life Stories of Women Recovering from 50–250 works in which recommended services are achieving their goals of Alcoholism & Addiction, by Rachel V. readings are starred. better treatment engagement and (New York: Harper & Row, 1985); Section I presents two excellent retention” (p. 354). In a work that Out From Under: Sober Dykes & Our overviews, one of substance abuse consolidates so many scientific and Friends, edited by Jean Swallow (San across the female lifespan and social-scientific perspectives, such rare Francisco: Spinsters/Aunt Lute, 1983); the other of research design and discrepancies can be tolerated. This and a handful of other works exposed methodology. The second section handbook would be a useful addition the raw realities of women’s experi- clusters seven chapters on biological to collections that support academic ences of addiction and offered hope issues, from the influence of hormones programs in medicine, nursing, for recovery. But the research literature and stress to observed differences psychology, biology, public health, lagged behind. Understanding of the in neurotransmitter systems and or social work. For a more indepth physiological and psychological nature pharmacokinetics. The third section focus on treatment options, consult of addiction, and of the kinds of treat- examines co-occurring psychiatric The Handbook of Addiction Treatment ment programs that worked, derived disorders, such as depression, anxiety, for Women, edited by Shulamith Lala largely from studies of male popula- and eating disorders. Section IV Ashenberg Straussner and Stephanie tions. Rising awareness of the dangers focuses on various treatment options Brown (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, of ignoring possible sex differences in and their outcomes, and Section V 2002), which defines addiction more biomedical research finally led the Na- looks at specific substances: alcohol, expansively to include gambling, sex, tional Institutes of Health, in 1994, to nicotine, opioids, marijuana, and and relationships. mandate the inclusion of women in the stimulants. The sixth section explores studies it funds. Subsequent research special populations: adolescents, [Susan E. Searing is the library and on alcohol, drug, and nicotine use un- pregnant women, women of diverse information science librarian at covered many aspects of addiction that racial/ethnic backgrounds, and sexual- the University of Illinois, Urbana- differ between women and men. This minority women. The two chapters in Champaign.] hefty volume takes stock of the mush- the final section address violence and rooming research literature, analyzes victimization among women addicts and synthesizes hundreds of studies, and the legal issues related to addiction and pinpoints the remaining gaps in the knowledge base.

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 31 New Reference Works

Colonial America and childbirth, explaining that the published in the 1990s, but the most domestic role for women was based recent comparable text is the encyclo- Merril D. Smith, WOMEN’S ROLES on the British law of coverture, which pedia Women in Early America: Strug- IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY denied a woman any legal status of her gle, Survival and Freedom in a New AMERICA. Westport, CT: Greenwood own. The chapter on immigration out- World, published in 2004. Women’s Press, 2008. 216p. $59.95, ISBN 978- lines why women came to the colonies Roles in Seventeenth-Century America 0313339769. and describes the perils of their voyages will be of great use to students and and how they adapted to life after they general readers. Reviewed by Vanette Schwartz arrived. One chapter explores the range [Vanette Schwartz is the social sciences Lustful whores? Pious wives? Or of work women performed, explaining librarian and women’s studies liaison at cunning witches? Women of colonial variations by class lines and geographi- Illinois State University.] America were labeled as all three. cal areas, and another one — especially This reference work from Greenwood well written — examines the influence of religion in women’s lives as well repudiates the stereotypes and de- olklore tails the diversity and complexity of as the roles of such leaders as Anne F seventeenth-century women’s lives. Hutchinson and Mary Dyer. Smith also analyzes how women who moved Liz Locke, Theresa A. Vaughan, Author Merril Smith, an independent beyond the bounds of accepted behav- & Pauline Greenhill, eds., scholar, earned her Ph.D. in history Encyclopedia of Women’s ior were often charged with witchcraft; from Temple University in 1990. Her Folklore and Folklife. Breaking the Bonds: Marital and, in the chapter on war, she looks first book, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2009. Discord in Pennsylvania, 1730–1830, beyond women as victims to show them defending themselves, exact- 2 vols. 872p. bibl. index. $199.95, was published in 1991, followed by ISBN 978-0313340505. two edited volumes: Sex and Sexuality ing revenge, and exercising political influence. The book includes a helpful in Early America (1998) and Sex With- Reviewed by Janice M. Rice out Consent: Rape and Sexual Coercion chronology of major events during the in America seventeenth century, as well as an index (2001). In 2004 Smith also Feminist writers have shown Encyclopedia of Rape and a selected bibliography of books, edited the . that folklore about women has not Women’s Roles in Seventeenth-Cen- articles, films, and websites. always been positive. Researchers have tury America Based largely on secondary sources has a twofold purpose: documented that women’s folklore is “to examine how seventeenth cen- and selected primary sources, this reference fulfills the author’s first purpose distinct from the portrayal of women tury attitudes, perceptions and beliefs in the earliest literary writings; what about women affected and shaped better than her second. It does provide an excellent overview of how seven- is shared in women’s circles often does their lives” and “to demonstrate how not coincide with the patriarchal im- significant women were in shaping the teenth-century attitudes and beliefs about women affected women’s lives. ages and interpretations of the past. No world around them.” (p. xiii). Aimed longer marginalized and unexplored, at senior-high-school through college Given the scarcity of women’s writings from this time period, demonstrating however, the scholarship of women’s students and general readers, the book folklore and folklife is brought to the covers primarily white women, but also the reverse — how women affected their world — must have been very forefront by the voices of 130 leading includes African American and Native feminists and folklorists, interwoven American women in the British colo- challenging. Smith mines her sources carefully to find examples of women by editors Liz Locke, Theresa Vaughan, nies of North America. and Pauline Greenhill, in this valuable Smith provides a detailed overview who were significant in shaping the American colonial world. two-volume reference. Contributors of women’s lives, discussing the fam- include established feminist writers ily, law, immigration, work, religion, Without question, this book fills a gap in the literature with a well-written and ethnographers as well as emerging and war, concluding with a chapter on scholars in the field. education, literature, and recreation. and documented overview of women Drawing on women’s major role as wife during the seventeenth century. Vari- and mother, she details the customs of ous works on colonial women were marriage, sexual practices, pregnancy,

Page 32 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) New Reference Works

In the first volume of this ency- ture, religion/ethnicity, sexuality, and courages more research and challenges clopedia, four essays contextualize the verbal lore; subtopics are listed under more women to continue their fieldwork: “Women’s Folklore,” by Pauline the main headings. Volume 1 also in- work in women’s folklore and folklife. Greenhill, Diane Tye, and Norma E. cludes an index. Cantú; “Folklore About Women,” by Volume 2 provides some global [Janice M. Rice is a senior academic Pauline Greenhill; “Folklore of Subver- perspective, with fifteen articles about librarian at College Library, UW– sion,” by Jessica Senehi; and “Women women’s folklore and folklife in coun- Madison.] Folklorists,” by Norma E. Cantú, Paula tries and regions of the world ranging Greenhill, and Rachelle H. Saltzman. from Australia and New Zealand to The fourth is an outstanding overview Western Europe, although, with the Gender Roles of the founding foremothers who have majority of contributors from the forged groundbreaking ethnographic United States, the focus is mainly on Janet H. Urlich & Bernice T. Cosell, work and scholarly research; while its North America. (Canada and Mexico, eds., HANDBOOK ON GENDER scope is not comprehensive, references with their borderland influences, do ROLES: CONFLICTS, ATTITUDES to well-known and emerging folklorists qualify for their own entries in the sec- AND BEHAVIORS. New York: Nova are included. Each essay includes the- tion for this region.) Folklore about Science Publishers, 2009. 347p. index. ory, historic perspectives, and excerpts indigenous women of North America $195.00, ISBN 978-1606926376. from leading feminists and folklorists, is interwoven in the topic categories along with extensive bibliographic and briefly addressed in the U. S. seg- Reviewed by Beth Strickland references. Although they do not share ment. a single definition of women’s folklore Readers will find references to A brief note in the November and folklife, the essays provide a frame- familiar works such as Marta Weigle’s 2009 issue of Contemporary Sociology: work for the types of entries and areas Spiders and Spinsters: Women and My- A Journal of Reviews implicitly repri- of scholarship that are included. The thology, Rosan Jordan and Frank de mands the publishers of “expensive novice will need to consult this section. Caro’s “Women and the Study of Folk- handbooks,” which are marketed pri- In each of the volumes, the range lore” in Signs, and the 1975 special is- marily to libraries, maintaining that of coverage includes expected and sue of the Journal of American Folklore, such texts are often thrown together familiar topics such as ballad, legend, all of which provide background on the quickly and cheaply, with inconsistent rites of passage, and proverbs, but with emergence of the field. results. “Chapters within a single vol- a feminist perspective. Readers will also For those who want to do further ume vary, too,” the reviewers point out, find entries devoted to subjects more research, there is a bibliography listing “in quality and coverage.”1 Although familiar to women and young girls. significant books, articles, and websites it would not be fair to assume that all Terms such as androgyny, coding, cyber that can be used as starting points in handbooks currently being published culture, croning, glass ceiling, hip-hop studying women’s folklore. The website suffer from such inconsistency, the crit- culture, and tradition bearer are not section lists government and organiza- icism is certainly applicable to Nova’s often found in classic folklore encyclo- tional sites, along with search tools that exorbitantly priced and haphazardly pedias. In these descriptive entries, the lead to sources in English and other organized Handbook on Gender Roles. reader will learn how these concepts languages. Overall, the entries in the From the noticeably grainy front- originated in previous generations and bibliography are for predictable sources cover graphic to the random topics have influenced the lives of women of information on folklore generally; listed in the table of contents, this today. it is incumbent upon the reader to resource not only appears to have Each volume includes a list of explore further. Although some of the been produced rapidly, but also reads entries and a guide to related topics websites address feminist issues and more like than an anthology than a as tools for browsing. The nearly 260 women’s folklore, the list is short and handbook. A handbook, by definition, entries, which include “aesthetics,” the researcher may long for more. In should provide a concise yet compre- “Barbie doll,” “diet culture,” “home this evolving field, deeper and broader hensive overview of a topic. The chap- birth,” “lesbian folklore,” and “veiling,” scholarship is certainly needed. ters in this book, in contrast, bounce are listed alphabetically. The boldface In the field of folklore, this femi- around from a discussion of rap lyrics headings in the guide lead to such top- nist encyclopedia will stand as a major to an exploration of differences in ics as domestic life, feminism, folklore accomplishment and a tool that en- as profession, life cycle, material cul-

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 33 New Reference Works physical aggression between gay and Girls trations, a reader’s guide with questions heterosexual men and an examination for discussion and further research, and of gender differences among the people Elline Lipkin, Girls’ Studies. an extensive bibliography of additional of Israel. The introduction does very Berkeley, CA: Seal Press, 2009. (Seal resources enhance this reference. This little to explain why these topics and studies series.) 256p. bibl. index. pap., book provides a perspective on girls’ not others were chosen to represent $14.95, ISBN 978-1580052481. lives that scholars and students can the various conflicts, attitudes, and build upon in their own research. It behaviors related to gender roles. The Reviewed by Leigh Younce would be a fantastic addition to any scope of the work is cross-cultural, academic library or introductory wom- which is commendable, but the case In the United States and around en’s studies curriculum. studies present data far too specific for the world, there is growing concern this sort of reference. Little informa- about girls’ lives. What does it mean [Leigh Younce is an instruction/reference tion is provided about the contributing to be a girl? “Seeing popular culture librarian at Auburn University and authors other than their institutional follow the waves of interest in ‘mean serves as the women’s studies liaison.] affiliations, and absolutely none about girls,’ crest to the catchphrase ‘girl the volume editors. power,’ and then ricochet off to new Unlike the majority of gender- directions,” writes Elline Lipkin, “has Health related handbooks, which tend to ap- led me to realize how deeply American proach this topic from the disciplinary culture cares about its girls — and Sandra J. Judd, ed., WOMEN’S perspective of psychology or sociology, also how fraught that concern can be” HEALTH CONCERNS SOURCE- rd this one tries to take an interdisciplin- (p. x). Until somewhat recently, the BOOK, 3 EDITION. Detroit, MI: ary approach — which can certainly be study of girls’ culture and girlhood Omnigraphics, 2009. 730p. gloss. in- useful for the field of women’s studies. has received little attention; research dex. $93.00, ISBN 978-0780810365. Unfortunately, without adequate direc- has focused mainly on adult women. tion this has resulted in too broad a Over the past two decades, however, Reviewed by Stacy Russo scope, as well as in reference lists that academics have begun to recognize that will be of little use to most feminist girlhood is a worthy area of study that Omnigraphics’ series of health scholars. Rather than purchase this deserves respect as an academic disci- reference sourcebooks “is designed to single text with its expansive focus, pline. provide basic medical information for libraries would be do better to invest Lipkin provides a detailed, objec- patients, families, caregivers, and the in several more narrowly focused re- tive, and clear guide to girls’ studies, general public” (p. xvii). The entries in sources. covering a broad range of challenges this one are predictably brief, given the girls face as they grow into women. broad subject: women’s health. Brev- Note Gender imprinting begins at birth, she ity is welcome in this case, as it helps points out, when pink caps are put on to make this book an accessible start- 1. J. Houle et al., in “Briefly Noted,” the heads of newborn girl babies. Lip- ing place for readers with little or no Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of kin goes on to discuss socialization, the knowledge about a particular topic. Its Reviews, v. 38, no. 6 (November 2009), influence of the media, body image, accessibility is strengthened by bulleted p. 604. and gender expectations, concluding lists, bold headings, and an absence of with suggestions for empowering girls excessive medical jargon. Images are [Beth Strickland is the women’s studies and providing what they need to have kept to a minimum, but appear at ap- librarian at the University of Michigan. bright, successful futures. Some of propriate times. She holds an M.L.I.S. from the Uni- these issues, I am ashamed to admit, I The sourcebook is divided into versity of Denver, as well as an M.A. in had not given a great deal of thought six parts, subdivided into fifty-four women’s studies from San Diego State to. chapters, and further broken down University.] The thought-provoking material in into sections. The parts are titled “Is- Girls’ Studies is sure to spark interesting sues and Trends in Women’s Health,” discussion and debate. Sidebars, illus- “Breast and Gynecological Concerns,” “Sexual and Reproductive Concerns,” “Cancer in Women,” “Other Chronic

Page 34 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) New Reference Works

Health Conditions of Special Concern birth control, abortion, pregnancy, sex- than the fifth. The author writes for the to Women,” and, finally, “Additional ual dysfunction, mental health issues, general reader, including young adults; Help and Information,” which con- urinary tract disorders, and diabetes. her goal is “to present subjects simply sists of a glossary and a directory of This volume is appropriate for un- and clearly, in everyday language” (p. women’s health resources. The volume dergraduate-level reference collections x) and offer alternative answers to con- is indexed. and public libraries. Students need- troversial questions. All of the content in the source- ing general data and readers looking More than 1,100 entries, arranged book is reprinted or excerpted from for introductory information about a alphabetically and varying in length documents produced by such sources personal concern will find it here. Of from a single line to multiple pages, as Walter Reed Army Medical Center, course, this would be only a first stop address health and wellness topics the National Institutes of Health, the for someone who intends to do in- specific to women, from addiction to National Women’s Health Informa- depth research. Readers who want ad- zygote, with an emphasis on reproduction Center, Planned Parenthood, the ditional basic information on women’s tive health and disease. Many cross- American Academy of Family Physi- health may be interested in some of references are included. New entries cians, the National Cancer Institute, the more focused volumes in the series, in the sixth edition include cervical the National Institute of Mental such as the Breast Cancer Sourcebook, cancer vaccine and serotonin poisoning. Health, and numerous others. Some of the Breastfeeding Sourcebook, the Do- Detailed black-and-white drawings ac- the reprinted material is available for mestic Violence Sourcebook, and the Eat- company the text, and there are many free online. Because the sources are tra- ing Disorders Sourcebook. charts and tables providing “informa- ditional and perhaps mainstream, read- tion at a glance” — for instance, a ers hoping to find discussions of alter- [Stacy Russo is the chair of public services list of medications used in treating native treatments or theories regarding for Chapman University’s Leatherby rheumatoid arthritis (however, not all women’s health will need to look else- Libraries, where she serves as the subject charts cite sources or dates). A resource where or supplement this source with liaison for education, peace studies, appendix (with names, phone num- others. (This Omnigraphics series does political science, and women’s studies.] bers, and website addresses for many include a Complementary & Alternative organizations that can provide further Medicine Sourcebook.) information and support) and a subject Certain aspects of the volume Christine Ammer, THE ENCYCLO- index complete the volume. are commendable, including short PEDIA OF WOMEN’S HEALTH, Christine Ammer, a professional chapters on “Health Disparities Affect- 6th EDITION. New York: Facts on writer and editor, has published many ing Minority Women” and “Lesbian File, 2009. 480p. index. $75.00, ISBN books, including guides on subjects Health Concerns.” A chapter titled 978-0816074075. Trade paper edition from music to business as well as dic- “Violence Against Women and Ways with identical content: THE NEW A tionaries of clichés and idioms. Her to Prevent It” provides practical infor- TO Z OF WOMEN’S HEALTH, 6th first edition of this health guide, pub- mation, including a “safety planning EDITION (Facts on File Library of lished in 1983, was titled The A to Z of list” of “items to get together when Health & Living), $19.95, ISBN 978- Women’s Health: A Concise Encyclopedia; you are planning on leaving an abusive 0816074082.1 she has revised it approximately every situation” (pp. 122–23). Almost every five years since. woman can benefit from chapters such Reviewed by Janet S. Fore Considering the rapidly changing as “Nutrition and Wellness,” “Avoid- field of medicine, we all need cur- ing Risk Factors for Common Health This comprehensive health refer- rent, reliable, and accessible consumer Concerns,” and “Recommended ence guide for women is now in its health information. Libraries may wish Screenings and Checkups for Women” sixth edition. Entries have been up- to consider this new edition. The New (which covers preventive care; screen- dated and expanded to include discus- Harvard Guide to Women’s Health is ing for breast cancer, cervical cancer, sions of the latest developments, such a similar, although somewhat more and colorectal cancer; and screening for as a new non-invasive test for breast technical, reference, but it has not been osteoporosis). Many other topics are cancer and an alternative to traditional updated since 2004. Ammer’s updated discussed in the volume as well — for colonoscopy (CT colonography), yet Encyclopedia, whether in this hardcover example, menstruation and the men- because of efficient reformatting, this version or the less expensive (yet iden- strual cycle, endometriosis, pelvic floor edition is only forty-five pages longer disorders, gynecological procedures,

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 35 New Reference Works tical in content) trade paperback titled rant purchase. When the author cites it seemed gays were excluded from the The New A to Z of Women’s Health, is an Reader’s Digest Strange Stories, Amazing standard textbooks, newspapers and attractive purchase. Facts of America’s Past, he has left the television.” And Sir Ian McKellen, in realm of scholarly reference books. a foreword, predicts, “For those who Note The coverage makes more sense have ever felt abandoned by history knowing that this book began as a and plagued with injustice, this lat- 1. See section titled “Caveat Emptor” database. The three useful indexes (by est sample of gay experience will be a at the end of “New Reference Works in profession, birthplace, and year of comfort and joy.” One of Mr. Stern’s Women’s Studies.” birth) look like printouts of spread- goals is to “provide role models for sheets. The book reads a bit like a young people,” and in this work he has [Janet S. Fore is the director of the Cush- printed database. No judgment is opened a window into a whole new wa-Leighton Library at Saint Mary’s made as to the value of a person’s con- realm of possibilities. College in Notre Dame, Indiana.] tribution to history. Movie makeup One source cited is Leigh Rut- artists, fashion designers, and famous ledge’s The Gay Fireside Companion. It hairdressers are given equal weight is unfortunate that this title was already Historical Queerness alongside popes and emperors. There taken, because it would have been a appear to be no criteria for the relative more appropriate one for this volume, Keith Stern, QUEERS IN HISTORY: length of the entries. Perez Hilton, a which could make pleasant reading THE COMPREHENSIVE ENCY- celebrity blogger, has one of the longer for someone lounging next to a toasty CLOPEDIA OF HISTORICAL entries at six paragraphs, while others fireplace, contemplating whether Elvis GAYS, LESBIANS, BISEXUALS, are inexplicably brief. Keith Haring’s, Presley or Abraham Lincoln could AND TRANSGENDERS. Dallas, TX: for example, has only three sentences really have been gay or bisexual. Aca- BenBella Books, 2009. 608p. bibl. totaling fewer than fifty words. And a demic libraries, however, should seek index. illus. pap., $19.95, ISBN 978- closer proofreading during the transi- out more scholarly sources. 1933771878. tion from database to book could have prevented some embarrassing printing [Nancy Nyland is a reference librarian at Reviewed by Nancy Nyland errors. the Germantown campus of Montgomery The subtitle advertises the book College in Maryland.] The age of Wikipedia confronts us as “comprehensive,” but the dozen with this question: Do we need print selections from B.C.E. seem random. reference books for information that The subtitle’s description of “histori- Latin American Writers we can look up online? A book that cal” is also inaccurate. Almost half of cites Wikipedia as a source for 80 of the the people listed were born in the last Kathy S. Leonard, Latin Ameri- 1,000 entries, as this one does, cannot 100 years, many of whom are still liv- can Women Writers: A Re- be sold as an encyclopedia. The use of ing and thus are contemporary figures, source Guide to Titles in Wikipedia as a primary source makes it not historical. Stern, an independent English. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow impossible for an academic library to scholar, refers to his entries as “stories,” Press, 2007. 349p. $88.00, ISBN 978- justify spending $20 plus processing as in “I hope the stories in this book 0810860155. costs for this print volume. The library are amusing and informative” — but can simply refer its users, similarly, to they are not necessarily credible. Reviewed by John H. Burns Wikipedia. These shortcomings are unfortu- Even Wikipedia requires its con- nate, because some of the content is Literature in translation is often tributors to cite their sources. But the drawn from original sources such as looked down upon in academic circles author does not follow the research diaries and letters and offers us a new as somehow impure, second-rate, or trail back to those sources, as a histo- way at thinking about historical fig- imitative. Kathy S. Leonard does not rian is expected to do. The frequent ures. Stern points out in his introduc- suffer from such a bias; she has made a citing of other reference works, such as tion the important role a resource like valiant effort to gather information on Who’s Who in Gay & History and Ency- this can play: “When I was growing women writers from Latin America for clopedia of Homosexuality, brings up the up and began to identify myself as a those readers and researchers who are question of whether there is enough gay person, I wanted role models, but unique content in this volume to war-

Page 36 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) New Reference Works approaching this body of literature as it tial background. To learn, for example, (Harrington Park Press, 2003), this is rendered into English by translators. of Eltit’s links to other experimental work fills a critical need for a fully- Latin American Women Writers: A Re- Chilean writers, or of Menchú’s place formed LGBT research methodology. source Guide to Titles in English sets out among Latin American testimonial Discussions of lesbian topics are nicely to create a bibliographical framework writing, might have been helpful for balanced with ones focused on the for a field that is not often given its such readers. In short, the summaries gay, bisexual, and transgender com- due by Latin Americanists; this ambi- of the works that Leonard includes are munities. Twenty-one signed chapters tious resource guide succeeds on several sufficient, but not systematic. Non- describe research issues, methods, and fronts. prose genres such as poetry or theater applications that enable scientifically As her target audience is not com- are another curious omission. It baffles sound studies of what are largely ig- posed of scholars who work in Spanish me somewhat that a work purport- nored populations. and Portuguese, Leonard has crafted an ing to be a guide to Latin American An opening chapter argues per- introduction that assumes little if any women writers would entirely privilege suasively that LGBT research furthers prior knowledge of the literary work prose writing. understanding not only of the lives produced in Latin America between Leonard herself anticipates that of LGBT people, but also of other 1898 and 2007. What newcomers to this guide’s audience will be instruc- groups, both marginalized and main- the field may find valuable is Leonard’s tors creating women’s studies and stream. Ethical and privacy issues are sensitivity to the regional specificities ethnic studies curricula. While this then covered in the two chapters of of Latin American literary production. will certainly be the case, I would add Section II, titled “Doing it Right: Ethi- The book lists authors by country of that high school English teachers and cal Standards in Conducting Research,” origin, and most of the short notes that college professors who are interested in which also deals with the role of insti- accompany the lists of anthologies, teaching literature in translation might tutional review boards in the research biographies, novels, and other narra- also find it most useful. process. The nine chapters of Section tive work do a very good job of quickly III cover aspects of valid research: situating these authors in their specific [John H. Burns is an assistant professor of definitions and sampling, design and historical context. For example, a new Spanish at Rockford College in Rockford, measurement, understanding the role reader of Diamela Eltit’s experimental Illinois.] of the researcher as either an “insider” work, Custody of the Eyes, will find or an “outsider,” and the value that it glossed as a piece that deals with technology can bring to the research “the climate of vigilance as it relates LGBT Research enterprise. Section IV addresses some to family relations as well as societal of the most sensitive areas of LGBT norms disrupted by the dictatorship of William Meezan & James I. Martin, research, including work with trans- Pinochet in Chile” (p. 285), and some- eds., HANDBOOK OF RESEARCH gender persons, LGBT people in rural one new to Nobel laureate Rigoberta WITH LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, settings, racial groups within urban Menchú’s work will find out that this AND TRANSGENDER POPULA- LGBT populations, and LGBT drug “Quiché-Mayan human rights advo- TIONS. New York: Routledge, 2009. users and those who are HIV-positive. cate gives testimony to abuses inflicted 472p. index. $158.00, ISBN 978- Section V treats the broader social and on her people by the Guatemalan gov- 1560235309; pap., $87.95, ISBN 978- political context of LGBT studies — ernment” (p. 185). 1560235316. the role of AIDS service organizations, Leonard’s main criterion for infor instance, and the impact of LGBT clusion in this guide is that the work Reviewed by Susan Bennett White research findings on judicial decisions. be originally written in the twentieth Each chapter concludes with a lengthy century in prose. Painting the picture An expanded version of an es- list of references. of Latin American women writers with say collection that appeared both as a In their preface and concluding such broad strokes, obviously, has its special issue of the Journal of Gay & chapter, the editors provide a solid drawbacks. While the geographical ori- Lesbian Social Services (vol. 15, nos. framework for understanding the con- entation may be beneficial to newcom- 1–2, 2003) and as a volume titled text and history of research with LGBT ers, an attempt to grapple with literary Research Methods with Gay, Lesbian, populations, as well as useful directions movements might have been of more Bisexual, and Transgender Populations use to those readers coming to Latin American literature with more substan-

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 37 New Reference Works

for further research. The volume ends this goal by providing a substantial for institutions with history, English, with biographies of the contributors foundation of information on LGBTQ or gender studies programs in need of a and a subject index. literature over the past few decades. wide-ranging reference in this growing Fulfilling and then going beyond Providing reference assistance from area of literary study. its stated goal of providing methodol- the very start, the encyclopedia begins ogy for LGBT research, this handbook with an alphabetical listing of all en- [Kari D. Weaver is an information lit- would be an excellent choice for upper- tries, followed by a guide that organizes eracy librarian at Wartburg College in level academic and research collections. every entry into the major groups of Waverly, Iowa. She is the liaison librar- The authors not only explain how to LGTBQ literature, plus a short list- ian to the business administration, com- construct solid research with LGBT ing of general topics such as bisexual- munication arts, English, and women’s subjects, but also address LGBT issues ity and stereotypes. These expanded studies departments.] more broadly. tables of contents are followed by the editor’s preface and an exceptional in- [Susan Bennett White is the sociology troduction by noted LGBTQ scholar Jessica Zellers, Women’s Nonfic- librarian at Princeton University Li- Marylynne Diggs. The entries are uni- tion: A Guide to Reading brary, where she provides materials and versally strong and cover a wide variety Interests. Santa Barbara, CA: Li- research support for the Princeton LGBT of content, ranging from biographies braries Unlimited (an imprint of ABC- Program. She has been a senior research of Allen Ginsberg, Audre Lorde, and CLIO), 2009. 442p. $55.00, ISBN librarian at Princeton for over twenty- Tennessee Williams to the history and 978-1591586586. five years.] development of queer theory. Entries on special topics such as Puerto Rican Reviewed by Rebecca Tolley-Stokes and Mexican American gay literature Literature are a particularly welcome find, as they “Women’s Nonfiction isn’t a highlight the inclusive nature of LG- genre,” muses Jessica Zellers in her Emmanuel S. Nelson, ed., Ency- BTQ literature and help establish con- introduction to this new volume in the clopedia of Contemporary nections within the wider canon. The Real Stories series. “It’s not even a read- LGBTQ Literature of the set is focused primarily on literature ing interest, not the way African Amer- United States. Santa Barbara, since 1980, although some older works ican nonfiction is. Women’s Nonfiction CA: Greenwood Press (an imprint of significant historical value can also isn’t anything, because no one recogniz- of ABC-CLIO), 2009. 2 vols. 762p. be found here. es it.” But Zellers has gamely taken on bibl. index. $195.00, ISBN 978- My main disappointment with the project of compiling a guide to the 0313348594. this encyclopedia is that the listings of best books in this as-yet-unrecognized “further readings” at the end of each category/genre, because “[w]hat they Reviewed by Kari D. Weaver entry are occasionally sparse, creating do share is a readership” (p. xvi). a considerable challenge for the inter- Zellers is a spitfire of a librar- Historian Barbara Tuchman fa- ested reader. A two-page selected bib- ian and annotator whose gutsiness mously said that books “are humanity liography at the end of the second vol- shows in each sentence. Her definition in print.” In few places does the range ume does not help, as it provides only of women’s nonfiction is “a reading of human experience reveal itself more a shallow overview of LGBTQ sources. interest comprising titles that speak clearly than in contemporary LGBTQ The superb indexing, however, along to women’s experience,” with a few literature. Editor Emmanuel Nelson, with the extensive scope of content and specific criteria for inclusion: woman- professor of English at SUNY Cort- excellent writing and thorough research hood must be a central theme of the land, states in his preface that the En- throughout the text, easily compensate book, and the author must address sex cyclopedia of Contemporary LGBTQ Lit- for these shortcomings. or gender. Also, only books owned by erature of the United States is “intended The Encyclopedia of Contemporary more than 200 libraries are listed. Most as a significant contribution” to the LGBTQ Literature of the United States of the titles Zellers includes are writ- “ongoing project” (p. ixx) of legitimiz- meets its goal of being a significant ten by women and typically read by ing the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, contribution to the field of LGBTQ women, although some will appeal to transgender, and queer studies. This studies. Overall, I recommend this set two-volume set, meant for a general audience, takes a strong step toward

Page 38 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) New Reference Works men as well, especially the books in the the more scholarly works. For the most National History Day travel and adventure subgenres, and part, narrative with plot is favored. some have male authors. Reference books are only included if Lynn Jurgensen, ed., Innovation Zellers, who has a scholarly they are deemed enjoyable. in History: The New Woman background and orientation, admits Annotations average about a hun- RESOURCE BOOK. Santa Barbara, her feminist bias in compiling and dred words, summarizing plot and CA: ABC-CLIO, 2009. 237p. $39.00, annotating Women’s Nonfiction; she identifying tone, style, setting (includ- ISBN 978-1598842920. even devotes a category (and a corre- ing geographical and historical set- sponding chapter) to “Feminism and ting), and characters; publication date, Reviewed by Madeleine Charney Activism.” She tries to include contri- format, and age suitability are noted as butions equally from writers of varying well. At the end of each entry, Zellers ABC-CLIO teamed up with class, race, and sexual orientation and suggests one to three other titles under National History Day, an academic includes diverse perspectives. She bal- the heading “Now Try.” If the reader history program designed for elemen- ances mainstream bestsellers with niche enjoyed The Glass Castle by Jeannette tary- and secondary-school students, interests like transsexual experience; Walls, for instance, she might want to create the Innovation in History however, you won’t find antifeminist to try Augusten Burroughs’ memoir, series of illustrated workbooks. The books here. Running With Scissors. (This example development team for The New Woman Zellers cherrypicked the 632 titles, illustrates that Zellers does not hesitate Resource Book is the complementary which date from 1998 to 2003, with to recommend books written by men duo of Brett Piersma, a high school pleasure in mind. Most, therefore, will that she believes that women will read, history teacher, and Danielle Swiontek, appeal to an audience that reads popu- enjoy, and empathize with.) Finally, for a university professor specializing in lar literature, although an occasional each chapter/category, Zellers provides U.S. women’s political activism in the scholarly work appears if it is the only a short list of “Fiction Read-Alikes” for twentieth century. With an emphasis monograph available that deals with a genre-crossers. on active participation, this workbook particular topic. She drew from many Women’s Nonfiction fills a gap in offers teachers and students a fresh look sources, including women’s bookstores, the “reader’s advisory” literature. It will at how the innovative thinking and small presses, other bibliographies, and serve librarians well as an all-purpose actions of two women helped shape WorldCat and Amazon.com searches. referral tool when their own knowl- U.S. history. The thematic approach Each of the eight chapters repre- edge fails them in certain areas, such as is a welcome contrast to teaching our sents a specific genre or reading cat- finance, food, self-help, how-to, work- children history as ossified chronologi- egory. The three classic categories are life balance, sports, sexual discrimina- cal facts. life stories, history, and adventure and tion, relationships, and roller derby The main text of this book is di- travel. Zellers divvies up books about — to name just a few. vided into two “Defining Moments.” personal growth; health, wellness and The first centers on Julia Morgan, an beauty; feminism and activism; women [Rebecca Tolley-Stokes is an associate early twentieth-century pioneer of at work; and women in society into the professor and librarian at East architecture as a woman’s profession, remaining five chapters. Each chapter, Tennessee State University. Her essay on and the second covers Betty Friedan, a in three narrative sections, gives the censorship appears in the forthcoming powerful feminist writer most prolific history and definition of the genre or Critical Perspectives on “To Kill a in the 1960s. A brief introduction category, reasons for the category’s ap- Mockingbird.” She has contributed more provides historical context, offering a peal to readers and its inclusion in the than 100 entries to encyclopedias such timeline of each woman’s life, pithy book, and a summary of the chapter’s as Biographical Dictionary of Literary excerpts from her work, and notable organization. Influences: The Twentieth Century; quotes that illuminate her individual- Some classics published before Dictionary of Literary Biography: ity. The cumulative lessons that fol- 1998 are included: Beryl Markham’s American Radical and Reform Writers; low vary in length and may easily be West With the Night, for instance, and Early American Nature Writers; adapted to fit teachers’ instructional Isabella Bird’s A Lady’s Life in the Rocky and Greenwood Encyclopedia of goals and time constraints as well as Mountains. Readers looking for light Multiethnic American Literature.] their students’ needs. The well-orga- fare will appreciate the author’s cau- tions about the challenges inherent in

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 39 New Reference Works nized format includes a list of materials elementary and secondary schools as dies,” “Good Old Boys and Girls,” and needed and step-by-step instructions well as for university libraries with edu- “Mammy,” which examine the particu- for completing related projects. Pri- cation collections. lar regional meanings of these terms mary and secondary sources, includ- then and now. Other entries, such as ing documents, images, and cartoons, [Madeleine Charney is a reference “Civil Rights,” “Civil War,” “Lynch- form the basis of relevant handouts. services librarian in the W.E.B. DuBois ing,” and “Slavery,” broadly trace major Biographies of other individuals from Library, University of Massachusetts at events in Southern history as well as the same period, outlines of important Amherst.] their effects on women. A few of the laws, and concise descriptions of places topics covered may seem unexpected, and events provide background. The although they will not be foreign graphics are compelling, despite being Southern Gender to Southerners: “Antimiscegenation entirely in black and white. Laws,” for instance, discusses the ban With the resources in Part I, for Nancy Bercaw & Ted Ownby, vol. on interracial marriages that was even- example, students can read correspon- eds.,e Th New Encyclopedia tually overturned by Loving v. Virginia; dence between Julia Morgan and Wil- of Southern Culture, VOL- “Beauty Shops and Barber Shops” em- liam Randolf Hearst about the design- UME 13: Gender. Chapel Hill, phasizes the importance of these places ing of his estate, her most well-known NC: University of North Carolina for Southern African Americans in architectural work, and then roleplay Press, 2009. 456p. $19.95, ISBN 978- particular; and “Visiting” portrays the the parts of Morgan and Hearst. Part 0807859483. social and cultural relevance of visiting II, on Betty Friedan, helps students with neighbors, family, and friends. learn about The Feminine Mystique, a Reviewed by Yadira V. Payne The entries vary from broad over- seminal work of the women’s move- views to more intensively researched ment that uncovered hidden truths Developing a deep understand- and explicitly detailed essays, and they about women’s lives in America after ing of Southern U.S. culture requires range in length from one page to many. World War II. Based on the material in studying key figures, groups, social They are rich resources through which the book, students are asked to analyze influences, and historical incidents readers can acquire both a fundamental images and excerpts from issues of Life as well as stereotypes and gender is- and advanced understanding. Each magazine that were published in the sues. Such an examination will result entry is supported by references and 1950s. in a comprehensive understanding of resources for further study. Cross-refer- The “Additional Resources” section women’s influences on modern South- ences would have been helpful, how- at the end of the book suggests ways to ern culture, as well as a clearer percep- ever, as some entries overlap (for in- use ABC-CLIO research databases and tion of how that culture has affected stance, citing the same historical events integrate what has been learned into women’s lives. In Volume 13 of The or court cases). National History Day projects; it also New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, The volume has two major parts, lists additional topics about women’s editors Nancy Bercaw and Ted Ownby the first of which consists of sixty-nine roles, such as Title IX and women’s have successfully compiled the contri- alphabetically arranged essays includ- sports, free love in the Victorian era, butions of major scholars and research- ing the ones described above. The sec- and the third wave of feminism. ers in the fields of Southern history, the ond part consists of forty-four entries. The book’s table of contents history of women, and women’s studies Some, such as those for Oprah Winfrey would be more useful if it listed each to allow for just such an investigation. and Barbara Jordan, are biographical; activity. Also, tabs identifying each Arranged in alphabetical order, the others describe organizations (e.g., the activity would allow teachers to move entries in this volume provide a gen- United Daughters of the Confederacy, more easily between different sections. eral overview of such familiar topics as the National Association of Colored Otherwise, The New Woman Resource abortion, education, family, and sexu- Women), federal developments (e.g., Book is content-rich and overflowing ality. In addition, the contributors offer the Loving v. Virginia case and the with possibilities to suit a wide range an understanding of certain stereotypes Moynihan Report), works of literature of teachers’ styles and diverse students’ of women in the antebellum South, as (e.g., “I Am A Man”), and television needs. Recommended for teachers in well as in the modern South, in such shows (including Designing Women). entries as, for example, “Belles and La- The essays in the volume are, in general, written and edited well, and all

Page 40 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) New Reference Works entries include suggestions for further The first discusses identity not being American or Chicana lesbians to be reading. The subject indexing seems to easily recognized by the dominant rejected in their communities. have been done carefully and depend- culture, identity being imposed by the The chapter titled “Social Strug- ably, and there is an index of contribu- dominant culture through stereotypes gles” covers a variety of issues that have tors. An introductory essay explains the or prejudices, and the complexity of galvanized women of color to organize, development of this volume, Gender, multiple identities. Rojas explores the such as health care, reproductive rights, from a single chapter titled “Women’s hegemony “that holds most forms of substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, high rates Life” in the original edition of the en- oppression in place [and] works to of imprisonment, and violence. Rojas cyclopedia. ensure that we accept binary relation- mentions some significant examples Missing from this text is any criti- ships” (p. 7), which results in the dou- of legal cases or groups that succeeded cal examination of Hispanic or Native ble consciousness described by W.E.B. in challenging injustices, such as the American perceptions and experiences Du Bois, Gloria Anzaldúa, and others. women-of-color antiviolence activists in the South, although they are glossed This chapter describes the various lib- in Mothers of East Los Angeles and over in a couple entries. Overall, how- eration groups that emerged through INCITE! ever, this reference is recommended the inspiration of the civil rights move- In Chapter 4, “Creative Expres- for purchase by academic libraries; it ment, including the American Indian sions,” Rojas emphasizes the signifi- will be of value to anyone engaging movement, the Chicano movement, cance of pop culture as a forum for in a preliminary study of gender and and the Asian-American movement. creative expression by women of color. Southern culture. In the “Conflicting Alliances” section This chapter’s overview of “publish- of this chapter, Rojas discusses how ing from the margins” mentions [Yadira V. Payne is the government docu- women and gay men often developed women-of-color publishers such as ments librarian and an assistant profes- differences with the heterosexual male Third Woman Press and Aunt Lute sor of library science at Augusta State leadership of these movements. Books. Rojas concludes with ex- University’s Reese Library. She holds an Chapter 2, “Embodied Represen- amples of women artists who reclaim M.S.L.I.S. from Drexel University and is tations,” addresses the challenge it is the male gaze through varied genres a published author and an artist.] for African American, Asian American, — for instance, Laura Aguilar through Latina, and American Indian women photography, Ana Mendieta through to overcome stereotypes about their multi-media, Lourdes Portillo through bodies and sexuality that impose po- film, and Kara Walker through her Women of Color larities of “good girl” versus “bad girl.” silhouettes. In the section called “Legacies of the “Loving Selves” is the final chapter. Maythee Rojas, WOMEN OF COLOR Past,” Rojas mentions the stereotypes Quoting Audre Lorde’s “Uses of the AND FEMINISM. Berkeley, CA: Seal of Mammy and Jezebel assigned to Af- Erotic: The Erotic as Power,” Rojas Press, 2009. 224p. bibl. pap., $14.95, rican American women, as well as the describes erotic power as the transitory ISBN 978-1580052726. effect of slavery on the sexual exploita- moment of bliss we feel when touched tion and violation of black women’s by physical and emotional intimacy. Reviewed by Jeanne Armstrong bodies. “Body Counts” provides data She refers to bell hooks’s Sisters of the showing that domestic violence on res- Yam on loving self and other women This volume is similar in format ervations is a major problem. Amnesty as the way to heal the oppression, to other Seal Press books intended for International reported homicide as the violence, and dysfunction experienced academic course use, such as Men and third highest cause of death among by generations of women of color Feminism. The author, a professor at Native American women in 2005 and in America. Rojas references Maria California State University, describes 2006. The image of the quiet, invis- Lugones on playfulness and world herself as a “Latina from a working- ible, Asian American woman prevents travelling as a method of cultural un- class background whose family and openness about domestic violence in derstanding. friends are still largely removed from the Asian American community. The In sidebars throughout each chap- the academic world” (p. ix). section “So Many Gay All Over the ter, Rojas includes examples of the The book’s five chapters are “De- World” describes the cultural and re- concepts or issues she explains in the fining Identities,” “Embodied Repre- ligious biases that often cause Asian sentations,” “Social Struggles,” “Cre- ative Expressions,” and “Loving Selves.”

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 41 New Reference Works

chapter. Some sidebars cover Anna human rights, and refugee issues. New ity publishing by small, alternative, and Mae Pictou-Aquash, Tracy Chapman, Internationalist Publications is an in- feminist presses. Yellow Woman, the Mothers of East dependent, not-for-profit publishing I appreciate that although there Los Angeles, INCITE!, and women-of- cooperative that reports on issues of is no shortage of negative information color blogs. global justice. World-renowned Egyp- to report about the status of women The book has a detailed index, a tian feminist writer, activist, and physi- (e.g., sterilization is the most common reader’s guide with questions for dis- cian Nawal El Saadawi contributed the form of contraception worldwide), cussion and topics for research, and a foreword (unchanged from 2004). van der Gaag doesn’t overlook positive comprehensive bibliography of books, The Guide offers easy access to advancements: for instance, the final films, and websites. There is also a list concise information about feminist chapter includes a list of changes for of sources in each chapter subsection. perspectives on a variety of social, eco- the better in fourteen countries since Women of Color and Feminism would nomic, and political issues facing wom- 2000. She points to the many women’s be an appropriate overview text for a en globally. The focus is on the quality organizations that have emerged world- women’s studies or gender studies sur- of women’s lives and how it can be wide since globalization as forces that vey course, and could even be one of improved, with emphasis on the major- can counteract some of globalization’s the assigned texts in a survey course on ity world of the Global South. Each negative effects. I would argue that people of color. chapter addresses a realm of life (e.g., those forces can also counteract the “birth and death,” “poverty, develop- backlash against feminism that she dis- [Jeanne Armstrong is a professor at West- ment, and work,” “power, politics, and cusses in Chapter 1. ern Washington University and is the the law,” “education,” “marriage, sexu- This No-Nonsense guide is not librarian liaison for several departments ality, and old age,” “violence against an essential reference source, but it is and programs, including Women Stud- women,”) in which women are denied valuable. As is evident from the cited ies.] full equality, showing just how their sources at the end of each chapter, rights are limited in that area. In ad- most of the information presented in dition to covering the expected issues, the volume is available online. The Women’s Rights this edition adds a chapter on how value of the book is that it brings the environmental issues affect women and information together in one small (144 Nikki van der Gaag, The No-Non- updates the unique chapter on women pages, 7 x 4.25 inches), easily accessible sense Guide to Women’s as global consumers to include the place. For libraries downsizing their Rights, New updated edi- impact of social networking and other print reference sections, this nontradi- tion. Oxford, U.K.: New Interna- Web 2.0 technologies on women’s lives. tional reference work would be suitable tionalist Publications, 2008 (original Every chapter includes introductory for circulating collections. edition published in 2004). 144p. paragraphs that frame the issue, fol- index. pap., $13.95, ISBN 978- lowed by subheadings that highlight [Sherri L. Barnes is the feminist studies 1904456995. related issues. Interspersed throughout librarian at the University of California, each chapter are tables and boxed Santa Barbara.] Reviewed by Sherri L. Barnes insets that feature policies, biographical profiles, best practices, first-person I often tell my students that a accounts, chronologies, statistics, an- Caveat Emptor reference work, while it can be an ecdotes, and more, all complementing excellent source of concise, easily ac- the text. There is no bibliography, but Scarecrow Press (a subsidiary of cessible, factual, and widely accepted sources are carefully and heavily cited Rowman & Littlefield) is apparently information, is not the place to look throughout. Most source information making a practice of reissuing previ- for a critical approach to a subject. This comes from governmental and nongov- ously published hardcover works in updated women’s rights volume in the ernmental organizations and research new paper series, with new titles, new No-Nonsense Guide series, however, has and policy institutes rather than from ISBNs, and new publication dates an unapologetically activist and criti- mainstream trade and academic press- in the publisher’s catalog (which get cal orientation. Author Nikki van der es. For instructional purposes, this is a picked up by Amazon.com and librar- Gaag is a British freelance writer and good example of useful and high-qual- editor specializing in gender, poverty,

Page 42 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) New Reference Works ies everywhere), but with absolutely published as HISTORICAL Meanwhile, in a slight variation on identical content to the original — and DICTIONARY OF THE Scarecrow’s practice, Facts on File con- no indication that the book is not re- LESBIAN LIBERATION tinues to issue simultaneous hardcover ally new! The two supposedly new A MOVEMENT: STILL THE and paperback versions of the same to Z references listed below are identi- RAGE, 2003; identical content book, with identical content but differ- cal to the older Historical Dictionaries but different title and ISBN; ent titles (and vastly different prices), — both of which we have reviewed in reviewed in Feminist Collections with no warning or explanation, not this column in years past — from the volume 25, number 1, Fall only creating confusion for reviewing dedication pages at the beginning to 2003, pp. 33–34. publications, but also leading (whether the authors’ bios at the end. It becomes deliberately or not) libraries with auto- clearer only when the copyright pages Catherine Villanueva matic purchasing systems to buy both are examined; the “new” versions still Gardner, THE A TO Z OF versions unintentionally. Christine bear the original copyright dates. We FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY. Ammer’s The Encyclopedia of Women’s do not approve of this practice: Scarecrow Press, 2009. ISBN Health, 6th edition, published simul- 978-0810868397. Previously taneously as the much cheaper New JoAnne Myers, THE A published as HISTORICAL A to Z of Women’s Health, 6th edition TO Z OF THE LESBIAN DICTIONARY OF FEMINIST — reviewed in this column on pages LIBERATION MOVEMENT: PHILOSOPHY, 2006; identical 41–42 — is one of the latest examples STILL THE RAGE. Lanham, content but different title and of this. See Phyllis Holman Weisbard’s MD: Scarecrow Press (a ISBN; reviewed in Feminist comments about this practice in her subsidiary of Rowman & Collections volume 27, numbers review of the fifth edition, in Feminist Littlefield), 2009. ISBN 978- 2–3, Winter–Spring 2006, pp. Collections v. 27, no. 1 (Fall 2005), pp. 0810868113. Previously 31–32. 31–32. We repeat: Caveat emptor!

Miriam Greenwald

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 43 Periodical Notes

New Magazine for Girls

KIKI: FOR GIRLS WITH STYLE AND SUBSTANCE. 2007– . Founder and ed.-in-chief: Jamie Bryant. Publisher: B-books Ltd. Frequency: 4/yr. Subscriptions: U.S., $26.00/ yr.; Canada, $41.00/yr.; other countries, $62.00/yr. Kiki Magazine, 118 West Pike St., Covington, KY 41011; website: www.kikimag.com (Issue examined: Vol. 3, No. 1, Fall 2009.)

This is different: a magazine for girls that is unabash- edly about fashion, but not in the ways that usually make us cringe: “Kiki has a unique point of view,” the website tells parents and other adults in girls’ lives. “To make room for creativity, we’ve left out a lot of what publishers consider ‘must-have’ content. There’s no gossip, no dating, no sensu- ality, no instructions on how to kiss, no tips on getting sexy abs... The magazine uses the college fashion design curriculum as a starting point to encourage girls to explore other disciplines (business, geography, fine art, craft, history, world culture, even math). Girls will learn that having fun with style and artistry is completely compatible with intelligence and creativity.” There’s also a direct message on the website for girls themselves (the audience targeted is preteen and teen): The only things I find a bit troubling are the shopping Kiki is a magazine for girls who love life, ap- suggestions in “Vintage-Inspired Back-to-School Fashion.” preciate creativity, and recognize good ideas. A Kiki Most of the items featured are very pricey; perhaps there’s reader thinks for herself, has her own look, and is too much promotion of Zappos.com and Urban Outfitters on her way to being a confident, strong, and smart here. Sixty-four-dollar knee socks for a preteen? Come on! young woman. She’s a girl with style and substance! Kiki shows you all the different ways you can be involved in design. Seven different depart- Special Issues of Periodicals ments blend style and artistry with intelligence and creativity, and design features will inspire you to ASIAN AND PACIFIC MIGRATION JOURNAL v. transform your Kiki into your very own creativity 18, no. 1, 2009: Special issue: “Women, Mobilities, journal! Immobilities and Empowerment.” Issue editor: Amy Sim. Publisher: Scalabrini Migration Center (Quezon City, In this issue: a pair of lead articles — “She Designs, Philippines). ISSN: 0117-1968. Available online to licensed He Designs” — featuring Anna Sui and Ralph Lauren; a users via SocINDEX. look at cheating; the history of polymer clay; the history of Partial contents: “Foreign Brides, Multiple Citizen- twentieth-century fashion; how to prevent and treat “numb ship and the Immigrant Movement in Taiwan,” by Hsiao- thumbs” from texting too much; shopping for vintage cloth- Chuan Hsia; “Women Versus the State: Organizing Re- ing; Ellis Island; Route 66; Mexico; hair; semi-blank pages sistance and Contesting Exploitation in Indonesian Labor for a girl’s own drawing, painting, or collage... Migration to Hong Kong,” by Amy Sim; “Global House-

Page 44 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Periodical Notes

holding and Care Networks: Filipino Women in Japan,” by Contents: “Growing Up with Games,” by Emma Maria Rosario Piquero-Ballescas; “Female Migration and Westecott; “Female Players from Margin to Centre: Female Social Reproduction in the Mekong Region,” by Bernadette Sociality, Digital Consumer Citizenship and Reterritorialisa- P. Resurreccion; “Circulation, Encounters and Transforma- tions,” by Laura Fantone; “‘The Street Smarts of a Cartoon tion: Indonesian Female Migrants,” by Amrih Widodo & Princess’: New Roles for Women in Games,” by Esther Mac- Catharina P. Williams. Callum-Stewart; “Cheerleaders/Booth Babes/Halo Hoes: Pro-Gaming, Gender and Jobs for the Boys,” by Nicholas CENTAURUS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF Taylor, Jen Jenson, & Suzanne de Castell; “Taking a Chance THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND ITS CULTURAL on Losing Yourself in the Game,” by Maureen Thomas; ASPECTS v. 51, no. 1, February 2009: Workshop papers “Women Creating Machinima,” by Jenifer Vandagriff & from a meeting of the Commission on Women in Science, Michael Nitsche. Technology and Medicine of the International Union for History and Philosophy of Science/Division of History of HARVARD REVIEW OF PSYCHIATRY v. 17, no. 2, Science and Technology IUHPS/DHST), Syros, Greece, April 2009: Special issue: “Women’s Mental Health: New July 2007: “Gender and Networking in Twentieth-Century Research Findings.” Issue editors: Hadine Joffe & Shelly F. Physical Sciences.” Issue editors: Maria Rentetzi & Sally Greenfield. Publisher: Taylor & Francis for Harvard College. G. Kohlstedt. Publisher: Blackwell. ISSN: 0008-8994. ISSN: 1067-3229. Available online to licensed users via Available online to licensed users via Wiley Interscience and EBSCOhost. EBSCOhost. Partial contents: “A Reproductive Subtype of Depres- Partial contents: “On the Outskirts of Physics: Eva von sion: Conceptualizing Models and Moving Toward Etiol- Bahr as an Outsider Within in Early 20th-Century Swedish ogy,” by Jennifer L. Payne, Jennifer Teitelbaum Palmer, Experimental Physics,” by Staffan Wennerholm; “Unstable & Hadine Joffe; “Reproductive Aging, Sex Steroids, and Networks Among Women in Academe: The Legal Case of Mood Disorders,” by Veronica Harsh et al.; “Sex Differ- Shyamala Rajender,” by Sally G. Kohlstedt & Suzanne M. ences in Drug-Related Stress-System Changes: Implications Fischer; “Gender, Science and Politics: Queen Frederika and for Treatment in Substance-Abusing Women,” by Helen C. Nuclear Research in Post-War Greece,” by Maria Rentetzi. Fox & Rajita Sinha; “Update on Research and Treatment of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder,” by Joanne Cunningham CLUES: A JOURNAL OF DETECTION v. 27, no. 1, et al.; “Reproductive and Metabolic Abnormalities Associ- 2009: Theme issue: “The Girl Sleuth.” Issue ed.: Leona W. ated with Bipolar Disorder and Its Treatment,” by Heather Fisher. Publisher: McFarland (http://www.mcfarlandpub. A. Kenna, Bowen Jiang, & Natalie L. Rasgon; “Infants of com/clues.html). ISSN: 0742-4248. Depressed Mothers,” by Edward Tronick & Corrina Reck; Partial contents: “The Accidental Sleuth: Investigating “Treatise on Insanity in Pregnant, Postpartum, and Lactat- Mysteries and Class in Three Series for Girls,” by Ramona ing Women (1858) by Louis-Victor Marce: A Commen- Caponegro; “‘Use Your Head, Judy Girl’: Relationships, tary,” by Katharina Trede et al. Writing, and an Ethic of Care in the Judy Bolton Mysteries,” by Mary Jeanette Moran; “Configuring Identity and Flights PS: POLITICAL SCIENCE & POLITICS v. 42, no. of Fancy in the Vicki Barr, Flight Stewardess Series,” by Mi- 2, April 2009: Symposium: “Fieldwork, Identities, and chael G. Cornelius; “Trixie Belden, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Intersectionality: Negotiating Gender, Race, Class, Religion, Secret of the Secret in Girl-Sleuth Literature,” by Steven J. Nationality, and Age in the Research Field Abroad.” Zani; “The Legacy of George and Bess: Sidekicks as Normal- Symposium editors: Candice D. Ortbals & Meg E. Rincker. izing Agents for the Girl Sleuth,” by Julie D. O’Reilly; “‘You Publisher: American Political Science Association. ISSN: Get Tough. You Get Even’: Rape, Anger, Cynicism, and the 1537-5935. Available online to licensed users via Cambridge Vigilante Girl Detective in Veronica Mars,” by Alaine Mar- University Press Journals and ProQuest. taus. Partial contents: “‘We Thought You Would Be White’: Race and Gender in Fieldwork,” by Frances B. Henderson; DIGITAL CREATIVITY v. 20, no. 4, 2009: Special “I Don’t Know Monica Lewinsky, and I’m Not in the CIA. issue: “Women in Games.” Issue editor: Emma Westecott. Now How About That Interview?” by Gina Yannitell Rein- Publisher: Intellect Books. ISSN: 1462-6268. Available hardt; “Being True and Being You: Race, Gender, Class, and online to licensed users via EBSCOhost. the Fieldwork Experience,” by Erica Townsend-Bell; “Em-

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 45 Periodical Notes bodied Researchers: Gendered Bodies, Research Activity, History Association. ISSN: 0145-5532. Available online and Pregnancy in the Field,” by Candice D. Ortbals & Meg to licensed users via Duke Journals, JSTOR, Project Muse, E. Rincker; “Research, Identities, and Praxis: The Tensions EBSCOhost, and SocINDEX. of Integrating Identity into the Field Experience,” by Mar- Partial contents of section: “Disciplinary Differences: shall Thompson. A Historian’s Take on Why Wages Differed by Gender in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Britain,” by Amy M. QUALITATIVE INQUIRY v. 15, no. 2, February 2009: Froide; “Strength and Power in the Industrial Revolution,” Special issue: “Gender, Violence, and Identity.” Issue editor: by Claudia Goldin; “The Gender Gap in Wages: Productiv- Himika Bhattacharya. Publisher: Sage. ISSN: 1077-8004 ity or Prejudice or Market Power in Pursuit of Profits,” by (print), 1552-7565 (online). Available online to licensed Jane Humphries; “The Significance of Brawn,” by Pamela users via Sage Journals Online. Sharpe. Partial contents: “Fragments and Interruptions: Sensory Regimes of Violence and the Limits of Feminist Ethnogra- UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE LAW FORUM v. 39, no. phy,” by Radha S. Hegde; “Locating Community in Wom- 1, Fall 2008; v. 39, no. 2, Spring 2009: Articles that “grew en’s Experiences of Trauma, Recovery, and Empowerment,” out of” the Feminist Legal Theory & Feminisms Conference by Kathleen Burns Jager & Marsha T. Carolan; “Their in March 2008 (making up a two-part volume titled Words, Actions, and Meaning: A Researcher’s Reflection Feminist Legal Theory & Feminisms). Publisher: University on Rwandan Women’s Experience of Genocide,” by Eddah of Baltimore School of Law. Issues available in full text at Mutua Kombo; “Finding My...A Story of Female Identity,” http://law.ubalt.edu/template.cfm?page=656. by Cara T. Mackie; “Power, Pleasure, and Play: Screwing the Contents of special section: in v.39, no.1: “Foreword: Dildo and Rescripting Sexual Violence,” by Jeanine Minge Traversing 2nd and 3rd Waves: Feminist Legal Theory Mov- & Amber Lynn Zimmerman; “I Don’t Know How to Start ing Forward,” by Barbara Ann White; “Keynote Address,” Talking About It: Six Poems,” by Lori E. Koelsch & Roger by Gloria Steinem; “Welfare, Privacy, and Feminism,” by M. Knudson; “Performing Silence: Gender, Violence, and Michele Estrin Gilman; “Is What We Want What We Need, Resistance in Women’s Narratives From Lahaul, India,” by Himika Bhattacharya.

SECURITY STUDIES v. 18, no. 2, April 2009: Special issue: “Feminist Contributions.” Issue editor: Laura Sjoberg. Publisher: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. ISSN: 0963-6412 (print), 1556-1852 (online). Available online to licensed users via Informaworld and EBSCOhost (Military & Government Collection). Partial contents: “Gendering the Cult of the Offensive,” by Lauren Wilcox; “Securitization and Desecuritization: Female Soldiers and the Reconstruction of Women in Post- Conflict Sierra Leone,” by Megan MacKenzie; “Loyalist Women Paramilitaries in Northern Ireland: Beginning a Feminist Conversation about Conflict Resolution,” by San- dra McEvoy; “Peacebuilding Through a Gender Lens and the Challenges of Implementation in Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire,” by Heidi Hudson; “Beyond Border Security: Femi- nist Approaches to Human Trafficking,” by Jennifer K. Lo- basz; “Environmental Security and Gender: Necessary Shifts in an Evolving Debate,” by Nicole Detraz.

SOCIAL SCIENCE HISTORY v. 33, no. 4, Winter 2009: Special section: “Debating Gender, Work, and Wages: A Roundtable Discussion.” Section editor: Anne McCants. Publisher: Duke University Press for the Social Science

Page 46 Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Periodical Notes and Can We Get It in Writing? The Third Wave of Femi- War and Social Justice.” Volume 1.2, “Mothering, Bereave- nism Hits the Beach of Modern Parentage Presumptions,” ment, Loss and Grief,” will be the Fall/Winter 2010 issue. by Justice Carol A. Beier & Larkin E. Walsh; “Here Comes To subscribe to the new journal or order back issues of the the Judge! Gender Distortion on TV Reality Court Shows,” old one (JARM) at half-price, see http://www.motherhood- by Taunya Lovell Banks; “Lifting the Floor: Sex, Class, and initiative.org/journalmotherhoodinitiative.html. Education,” by Naomi Cahn & June Carbone; “Copyright Law and Pornography: Reconsidering Incentives to Create Also sporting a new name and mission is the former NWSA and Distribute Pornography,” by Ann Bartow. In v.39, no.2: Journal, which is, as of this year, titled FEMINIST FORMA- “Not Our Mother’s Law School? A Third-Wave Feminist TIONS. Volume and issue numbering, however, continue Study of Women’s Experiences in Law School,” by Felice in sequence: the first issue of Feminist Formations is Volume Batlan et al.; “Empowerment or Estrangement? Liberal Fem- 22, Number 1 (Spring 2010). “This new title more clearly inism’s Visions of the ‘Progress’ of Muslim Women,” by Cyra matches our expanded focus,” write Rebecca Ropers-Huil- Akila Choudhury; “Feminist Legal Theory in the Context of man and Adela C. Licóna (editor and editorial board mem- International Conflict,” by Teresa Godwin Phelps; “Creating ber, respectively) in their welcome message in this issue. Law and Policy with Women’s Voices: Feminism in Action,” “Specifically, we mean to signify that we encourage transna- by Alicia C. Carra; “Regulating Pregnancy in Taiwan: An tional exploration of issues that related to Feminist, Gender, Analysis from an Asian Legal Feminist Using Feminist Legal and Sexuality Studies in a wide variety of contexts.” The Theories,” by Chih-Chieh Lin. address for the new journal is Feminist Formations, 330 Wul- ling Hall, University of Minnesota, 86 Pleasant Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455; phone: (612) 626-3818; email: Transitions [email protected]; website: http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ Feminist-Formations. The former Association for Research on Mothering (1998– 2010), which has been relaunched as the Motherhood Ini- tiative for Research and Community Involvement (MIRCI), Ceased Publication will in turn launch the first issue (Volume 1.1) of its new scholarly, peer-reviewed, bi-annual JOURNAL OF THE Wisconsin Woman magazine, published since 1998 MOTHERHOOD INITIATIVE (the former Journal of the by O’Gara Publishing in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, has ended Association for Research on Mothering, or JARM) in Summer its publishing run, citing “the economic times.” 2010, with the theme “Mothering, Violence, Militarism, Compiled by JoAnne Lehman

Miriam Greenwald

Feminist Collections (v. 31, nos. 1–2, Winter–Spring 2010) Page 47 Books and Videos Received

THE ACP HANDBOOK OF WOMEN’S HEALTH. THE KALEIDOSCOPE OF GENDER: PRISMS, Fife, Rose S. and Schrager, Sarina B. American College of PATTERNS, AND POSSIBILITIES. Spade, Joan Z. and Physicians Press, 2009. Valentine, Catherine G, eds. Pine Forge; distr. Sage, 2011. ANYTHING I PERCEIVE: A TRIBUTE TO THE 3rd ed. SIXTEEN WOMEN SENATORS (VIDEO), Loomis, LIFE STORIES OF WOMEN ARTISTS, 1550–1800: AN Wendy, producer. Wendy Loomis, 2010. ANTHOLOGY. Dabbs, Julia K. Ashgate, 2009. THE ASHGATE RESEARCH COMPANION TO THE MAINE WOMEN WRITERS COLLECTION: QUEER THEORY. Giffney, Noreen and O’Rourke, THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS (VIDEO), Gurley, Cally and Michael, eds. Ashgate, 2009. Hoose, Shoshana, producers. University of New England, BECOMING MODERN WOMEN: LOVE AND 2009. FEMALE IDENTITY IN PREWAR JAPANESE NEW BLOOD: THIRD-WAVE FEMINISM AND THE LITERATURE AND CULTURE. Suzuki, Michiko. POLITICS OF MENSTRUATION. Bobel, Chris. Rutgers Stanford University Press, 2010. University Press, 2010. BENIGN BIGOTRY: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SUBTLE ORIGINS OF THE MAGDALENE LAUNDRIES: PREJUDICE. Anderson, Kristin J. Cambridge University AN ANALYTICAL HISTORY. McCarthy, Rebecca Lea. Press, 2010. McFarland, 2010. CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN: A BIOGRAPHY. OUR BODIES, OURSELVES AND THE WORK OF Davis, Cynthia J. Stanford University Press, 2010. WRITING. Wells, Susan. Stanford University Press, 2010. CONFINED. Dietl, Mariana. Litchfield Review, 2009. RAILROAD NOIR: THE AMERICAN WEST AT THE THE DICTIONARY OF BRITISH WOMEN ARTISTS. END OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. Niemann, Gray, Sarah. Lutterworth, 2009. Linda Grant. Jensen, Joel, illus. Indiana University Press, ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GODDESSES AND HEROINES. 2010. Monaghan, Patricia. Greenwood, 2010. RIDING THE BLACK RAM: LAW, LITERATURE, ENTANGLING ALLIANCES: FOREIGN WAR BRIDES AND GENDER. Heinzelman, Susan Sage. Stanford AND AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN THE TWENTIETH University Press, 2010. CENTURY. Zeiger, Susan. New York University Press, THE STRONG WOMEN’S GUIDE TO TOTAL 2010. HEALTH. Nelson, Miriam E. and Ackerman, Jennifer. FEMINIST STUDIES: A GUIDE TO INTERSECTION- Rodale, 2010. AL THEORY, METHODOLOGY AND WRITING. URSULA K. LE GUIN’S JOURNEY TO POST- Lykke, Nina. Routledge, 2010. FEMINISM. Clarke, Amy M. Palumbo, Donald E. and FIRST VOICES: AN ABORIGINAL WOMEN’S Sullivan, C. W., eds. McFarland, 2010. READER. Monture, Patricia A. and McGuire, Patricia D, WOMEN IN SHAKESPEARE: A DICTIONARY. eds. Inanna, 2009. Findlay, Alison. Continuum, 2010. GAY AND LESBIAN COMMUNITIES THE WORLD WOMEN IN THE AGE OF SHAKESPEARE. Kemp, OVER. Simon, Rita J. and Brooks, Alison M. Lexington, Theresa D. Greenwood/ABC-CLIO, 2010. 2009. WOMEN IN THE LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY GLAMOUR: WOMEN, HISTORY, FEMINISM. OF JAPAN: THE LINGUISTIC ROOTS OF BIAS. Dyhouse, Carol. Zed; distr. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Takemaru, Naoko. McFarland, 2010. THE GREENWOOD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LGBT WOMEN’S SPIRITUALITY: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES WORLDWIDE. Stewart, Chuck, ed. Greenwood, FEMINIST APPROACHES TO JUDAISM, 2010. CHRISTIANITY, ISLAM AND GODDESS WORSHIP. HANDBOOK OF WOMEN’S HEALTH. Rosenfeld, Jo Stuckey, Johanna H. Inanna, 2010. Ann, ed. Cambridge University Press, 2009. 2nd ed. HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF SEXPIONAGE. West, Nigel. Scarecrow, 2009. IRON BUTTERFLIES: WOMEN TRANSFORMING THEMSELVES AND THE WORLD. Regine, Birute. Prometheus, 2010.

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