Synopses & Reviews
Few would argue that war has been a defining experience for people born in Europe and North America in the twentieth century. The degree to which war has been instrumental in improving women's social situation remains a vexed question, however. Conventional wisdom repeats the cliche that the Great War liberated women by allowing them to demonstrate their fitness for equality by recruiting them to work in men's jobs previously considered beyond their capabilities. In fact, their patriotic enthusiasm was used against them after the war, when they were seen to have profited from the deaths of the men they replaced. As Europe prepared for the Second World War, this resentment of women's perceived war-profiteering helped to smooth their transition from sacred, protected icon to target.
In Beyond The Home Front, Yvonne M. Klein provides selections from autobiographical writing by women in the two World Wars that illustrate the richness and complexity of women's war-time lives. Although women generally did not take up arms, this collection reminds us that their war stories are neither peripheral nor secondary to the battle stories of men. This volume helps to reclaim women's experience of war as part of the universal experience of the twentieth century, different from that of men, but not as different as might be thought.
Bringing together more than forty selections from the two wars, Beyond the Home Front includes the work, much of it long out of print, of a wide array of voices including Sylvia Pankhurst, Vera Brittain, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary Lee Settle, Mary Borden, Gertrude Stein, and Joy Kogawa. The volume, which will appeal to the general reader as well as to the student of history and literature, includes contextual introductions as well as brief biographies of each of the writers.
Synopsis
An in-depth examination of the different forms of privilege perpetuating inequality within American society
In the time of the Me Too movement, protests over police killings, and the resurgence of Black Lives Matter, inequality is at the forefront of American thought like never before. But despite the important movements under way, so many of the systems of privilege upholding the status quo remain unchanged. Many Americans who advocate a merit-based, race-free worldview still do not acknowledge the systems of privilege which benefit them. Men are still at the top of the gender wage gap, white people are still five times less likely to be stopped by police than their Black neighbors, and white families are still building their lives of social and financial inheritances that have been denied to Black Americans and immigrants for centuries.
In this important volume, scholars positioned differently with respect to white privilege examine how privilege of all forms manifests itself and how we can, and must, be aware of invisible privilege in our daily lives. Individual chapters focus on language, the workplace, the implications of comparing racism and sexism, race-based housing privilege, the dream of diversity and the cycle of exclusion, the rule of law and invisible systems of privilege, and the power of law to transform society.
Twenty-five years since its first publication, Privilege Revealed is more relevant than ever. With a new introduction bringing the volume up to date, this book offers readers important insight into the inequalities still pervading American society, and encourages us all to confront our own relationship to these often invisible privileges.
Synopsis
An in-depth examination of the different forms of privilege perpetuating inequality within American society
In this era of #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter, inequality is at the forefront of American thought like never before. Yet many of the systems of privilege upholding the status quo remain unchanged. Many Americans who advocate a merit-based, race-free worldview do not acknowledge the systems of privilege which benefit them. Men remain at the top of the gender wage gap and white people are five times less likely to be stopped by police than their Black neighbors. White families can build lives using social and financial inheritances that have been denied to Black Americans and immigrants for centuries.
Individual chapters focus on language, the workplace, the implications of comparing racism and sexism, race-based housing privilege, the dream of diversity and the cycle of exclusion, the rule of law and invisible systems of privilege, and the power of law to transform society.
Twenty-five years since its first publication, Privilege Revealed is more relevant than ever. With a new preface and substantive foreword, this book offers readers important insight into the inequalities still pervading American society and encourages us all to confront our own relationship to these too often invisible privileges.
Synopsis
Affirmative action remains a hotly contested issue on our political landscape, yet the institutionalized systems of privilege which uphold the status quo remain unchallenged. Many Americans who advocate a merit-based, race-free worldview do not acknowledge the systems of privilege which benefit them. For example, many Americans rely on a social and sometimes even financial inheritance from previous generations. This inheritance, unlikely to be forthcoming if one's ancestors were slaves, privileges whiteness, maleness, and heterosexuality.
In this important volume, scholars positioned differently with respect to white privilege examine how privilege of all forms manifests itself and how we can, and must, be aware of invisible privilege in our daily lives. Individual chapters focus on language, the workplace, the implications of comparing racism and sexism, race-based housing privilege, the dream of diversity and the cycle of exclusion, the rule of law and invisible systems of privilege, and the power of law to transform society.
About the Author
Yvonne M. Klein is Professor of English at Dawson College in Montreal, where she teaches courses in women's literature and Modernism. She is also a frequent translator of Quebec French feminist literature. Her translation of Jovette Marchessault's Lesbian Triptych was awarded the Governor General's Prize for best English translation.
Table of Contents
Making systems of privilege visible -- Privilege in the workplace -- Privilege in residential housing -- Privilege and the media -- Obscuring the importance of race -- Comparisons between racism and sexism (or other -isms) -- The dream of diversity and the cycle of exclusion -- The quest for justice -- Teaching and learning toward transformation -- Concluding thoughts on noticing privilege.