Many people today know that the 1964 murder in Mississippi of two Jewish men--Mickey Schwerner and Andrew Goodman--and their Black colleague; James Chaney; marked one of the most wrenching episodes of the civil rights movement. Yet very few realize that Andrew Goodman had been in Mississippi for one day when he was killed; Rita Schwerner; Mickey's wife; had been organizing in Mississippi for six difficult months. Organized around a rich blend of oral histories; Going South followsa group of Jewish women--come of age in the shadow of the Holocaust and deeply committed to social justice--who put their bodies and lives on the line to fight racism. Actively rejecting the post-war idyll of suburban; Jewish; middle-class life; these women were deeply influenced by Jewish notions of morality and social justice. Many thus perceived the call of the movement as positively irresistible. Representing a link between the sensibilities of the early civil rights era and contemporary efforts to move beyond the limits of identity politics; the book provides a resource for all who are interested in anti-racism; the civil rights movement; social justice; Jewish activism and radical women's traditions.
#3071854 in Books NYU Press 2012-05-07 2012-05-07Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .81 x 5.98l; 1.15 #File Name: 081473748X296 pages
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Sorely needed and magnificent.By MavsSince the works of John Keegan (The Face of Battle) and Geoffrey Parker (The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road); the ‘new’ Military History that originated in the 1970’s has grown ever more versatile and has increasingly infiltrated and borrowed from other Historical genres. Of this new approach to studying war; scholarship that focuses on the experiences and motivations of soldiers arguably constitutes the foremost component. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly; although the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars have been the subject of a vast number of studies; the historiography of Revolutionary and Napoleonic soldier studies is far from exhaustive. Accordingly; Michael Hughes’ Forging Napoleon’s Grande Armée: Motivation; Military Culture; and Masculinity in the French Army; 1800-1808 addresses a relative historiographical gap by examining the army of the French Consulate and early Empire with a unique combination of questions. His approach both mimics and expands the ‘new’ Military History by focusing on the motivations of French soldiers; the Napoleonic army’s creation of a distinctive “military culture;†and their varying and sometimes conflicting notions of masculinity.While Forging Napoleon’s Grande Armée is certainly unique; it is not the first soldier study of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic era. On the contrary; Hughes directly engages previous works by concentrating on a specific argument first proposed in John Lynn’s Bayonets of the Republic: the “army of honor thesis.†Lynn argues that Napoleon imbued his troops with aristocratic notions of honor by introducing a system of prestigious rewards; epitomized by the Legion of Honor. While other scholars like Alan Forrest; Natalie Petiteau; and Jean-Paul Bertrand have slightly modified or outright rejected Lynn’s thesis; Hughes provides a novel interpretation. He avers that the army of honor thesis is too simple because it “obscures the complex set of ideas; values; and practices†that operated within the armies of the Consulate and the Empire. In addition; he contends that “Napoleonic military culture combined [honor and virtuous patriotism] to produce effective models of…motivation.†Thus; he provides a more nuanced and multifaceted depiction of the Napoleonic ‘army of honor.’ Hughes poses several other important historical questions; including what made the Grande Armée so successful and how French soldiers transitioned from the “vive la republique†of the Revolutionary period to the seemingly contradictory “vive l’empereur†of the Napoleonic regime.In order to answer these questions; Hughes draws on an impressive variety of sources; including letters; newspapers; Bulletins de la Grande Armée; official proclamations; woodcuts; soldier memoirs; and statements made by officers about common soldiers. He astutely recognizes the limitations of each type of document; in particular the comparative paucity of soldiers’ letters available to the Napoleonic historian. Acknowledging that this makes quantitative analysis difficult and only marginally useful; he concedes that this forces his chapters to be rather impressionistic and anecdotal. In the hopes of providing a well-rounded image of the Napoleonic soldier; Hughes also incorporates soldier studies from other periods – particularly the American Civil War – because a soldier’s experiences; motivations; and coping mechanisms possess a purely human element that transcends time; space; and circumstance.Hughes emphasizes that his book studies not only soldiers; but also their environment; and how these two interacted and informed one another. Citing Roger Chartier; he explains that one “cannot simply assume that individuals in the past passively accepted the ideas and practices to which they were exposed.†As a result; Hughes examines not only what motivated soldiers; but also the military culture created by the Napoleonic regime to influence its troops. Adopting John Lynn’s triumvirate of soldier motivations (initial; sustaining; and combat motivation); Hughes concentrates on what kept Napoleon’s soldiers in the army and what compelled them to march to the battlefield. Hereby; he identifies five specific categories of factors that sustained the motivation of Napoleon’s men: honor; patriotism; martial and virile masculinity; their devotion to Napoleon; and coercion. Forging Napoleon’s Grande Armée only deals with the French army until 1808. Hughes explains that after 1808; the composition and character of the Grande Armée and the Napoleonic regime fundamentally changed; becoming more dynastic and enlisting an increasing number of foreigners. These processes eventually made Napoleon’s army incompatible with the essentialist French nationalist rhetoric that so strongly characterized the Napoleonic military culture.Hughes divides his book into seven chapters. First; he describes the many ways in which the French Consulate and the Empire created a military culture through the use of written and print media; songs; plays; festivals; ceremonies; and symbolic practices such as the ‘review’ by Napoleon; a prestige-laden inspection of a regiment by the Emperor himself. Chapter Two then breaks down the various notions of honor cultivated in the Napoleonic army; including patriotic honor; traditional warrior honor; and unit honor; or esprit de corps. Hughes effectively juxtaposes these characteristics with those of the armies of the Ancien Regime and the French Revolution. Next; Chapter Three examines the development of “imperial virtue;†explaining that French patriotism transformed from a devotion to the physical patrie during the French Revolution to a patriotism that induced Frenchmen to not only defend their fatherland; but also increase its prestige and renown abroad. Arguably Hughes’ most significant idea; Chapter Four assesses the exceptionality of Napoleonic sexual rhetoric. In addition to cultivating a masculinity that espoused courage and a martial spirit; Napoleonic military culture imbued French soldiers with an ideal of sexual virility and offered them a libertine sexual lifestyle as motivation. Chapter Five traces the development of the Napoleonic Cult; recounting how the power and variability of Napoleon’s public image-making effectively legitimized his rule in the eyes of his troops. Subsequently; focusing exclusively on officers; Hughes investigates how the military culture described in chapters one through five actually influenced soldiers in Chapter Six. Overall; he concludes that the French officer corps internalized Napoleonic military culture to a large extent; frequently cultivating notions of personal and unit honor; imperial virtue; and a martial and virile masculinity. Hughes’ last chapter then examines how the common French soldier fit the ideal of Napoleonic military culture. Noting that “the most pervasive sentiment in their writings is misery;†Hughes concedes that the primary reasons these men served in the army are the emotional strength they gained from their faith; primary group loyalties; and coercive measures intended to deter men from deserting.For all of its merits; Forging Napoleon’s Grande Armée is not without flaws. For instance; in exploring soldier motivations; Hughes examines not only the men who internalized the military culture of Napoleon’s army but also those who were largely kept in the ranks via coercion. He appears to conclude that the combination of these sustained motivators were very effective; but fails to assess desertion rates in the French army and compare them to those found in other armies of the time. While there is little consensus; scholars have argued that the desertion rate in the French army was somewhere around 15 to 20 percent- or even as high as 28 percent. Considering the effectiveness Hughes ascribes to the sustained motivators in the Grande Armée; perhaps it would have been advisable to relativize his conclusions; acknowledge the seemingly high desertion rates of the time period; and assess whether deserters in the French army were less common than in other European armies. Another oversight in Hughes’ study is that he appears so preoccupied with complex networks of motivators that he forgets to note the simple reasons that compelled many soldiers to serve. Many were criminals; social outcasts; or men who found themselves in an irreconcilable family situation and saw no alternative but to flee by serving in the army. Some soldiers; on the other hand; were merely in financial trouble and required a paying job. Ultimately; however; these minor faults do not prevent Forging Napoleon’s Grande Armée from successfully breaking new ground. Thanks to its remarkable variety of sources; stimulating set of historical questions; and well-illustrated thesis that argues for a Napoleonic military culture; Hughes’ versatile study of Napoleon’s army constitutes a significant contribution to the historiography of the Napoleonic Era.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A book long neededBy Eman M. VovsiThis is an excellent research where; beyond the Napoleonic legend and rhetoric; one could find a true process that made the Grand Armée the military machine of an awesome statute. The author rightfully limits himself to the 1800-1808 period when the first Grand Armée was forged (the second one was created in 1811); explaining to historians and buffs alike the least known subject - a military culture; the system of motivation; rewards and punishment and creation of a legend. Highly recommended!
