Mobilizing Minerva: American Women in the First World War - Hardcover

Jensen, Kimberly

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0252032373 ISBN 13: 9780252032370

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 2008

Synopsis

American women did more than pursue roles as soldiers, doctors, and nurses during World War I. Mobilizing Minerva: American Women in the First World War reveals women’s motivations for fighting for full citizenship rights both on and off the battlefield. The war provided chances for women to participate in the military, but also in other male-dominated career paths.

 

Intense discussions of rape, methods of protecting women, and proper gender roles abound as Kimberly Jensen draws from rich case studies to show how female thinkers and activists wove wartime choices into long-standing debates about woman suffrage and economic parity. The war created new urgency in these debates, and Jensen forcefully presents the case of women participants and activists: women’s involvement in the obligation of citizens to defend the state validated their right of full female citizenship.

About this title

About the Author:

Kimberly Jensen is professor of history and gender studies at Western Oregon University.

Review:

"Jensen astutely analyzes the interplay between US women's attempts to attain professional and civic equality and overcome gender-based violence during WWI. . . . She expertly interweaves case studies and gender representations from women activists, popular culture, wartime propaganda, real-life accounts, and a host of other sources. Highly recommended."--Choice

“Not simply a tale about World War I or the women's suffrage movement, but a story of the complicated intersection of gender, citizenship, violence, and war in the early twentieth century.”--H-Minerva

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0252032373
• ISBN 13: 9780252032370
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 264