Susan K. Besse broadens our understanding of the political by establishing the relevance of gender for the construction of state hegemony in Brazil after World War I. Restructuring Patriarchy demonstrates that the consolidation and legitimization of power by President Getulio Vargas's Estado Novo depended to a large extent on the reorganization of social relations in the private sphere. New expectations and patterns of behavior for women emerged in postwar Brazil from heated debates between men and women; housewives and career women; feminists and antifeminists; reformist professionals and conservative clerics; and industrialists and bureaucrats. But as urban middle- and upper-class women challenged patriarchal authority at home and assumed new roles in public; prominent intellectuals; professionals; and politicians defined and imposed new 'hygienic;' rational; and scientific gender norms. Thus; modernization of the gender system within Brazil's rising urban-industrial society accommodated new necessities and opportunities for women without fundamentally changing the gender inequality that underlay the larger structure of social inequality in Brazil.
#1618390 in Books 2012-04-02Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 .95 x 6.56 x 9.49l; 1.25 #File Name: 0807835447296 pages
Review
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A great readBy Dan of SteelGreat book. Well written and tells a seemingly ignored part of history.10 of 14 people found the following review helpful. A New ViewBy Kevin WindhamGrowing up in rural west-central Alabama I was indoctrinated with "Lost Cause" ideology; a fallacy that hamstrung my understanding of the Civil War. However; through graduate school; I came to a deeper appreciation of the conflict; the players involved; and the complexity of the age. I have been able to look back on my education; on what I thought I knew to be "the truth;" and to question. My friends have been invaluable in growth.One of the many areas I had never considered was the role of African-Americans; notably slaves; during the Civil War. Too often; we talk about slavery and its role in setting the climate which led to secession; then touch the topic again with Antietam and the Emancipation Proclamation; generally acknowledge the service of the USCT's; and then end the "Peculiar Institution" in Reconstruction. However; a question remains: What specific military roles did slaves play during the war even before emancipation and the raising of black toops? Glenn David Brasher gives us an answer. In this new and historiographically divergent monograph; Brasher approaches the roles of African Americans in their "fight for freedom." Focusing on the 1862 Peninsula Campaign; he brings the actions and agency of slaves to the forefront; a positionality much warranted. Slaves fought on both sides (to what degree; when; where; and why is still debatable; ; and Brasher handles the question of so-called "Black Confederates" with objectivity) and labored for both sides in digging trenches and constructing forts. However; slaves also put an enormous amount of pressure on soldiers; officers; the northern public; and politicians in Washington. Brasher explains how slaves understood that the war was "waged to perpetuate the dismal night of their servitude;" and when the opportunity arrived; they fled the farms and plantations as well as their impressment into Confederate service. They wanted freedom. Running to Fort Monroe or--in general--the Union lines; they began to provide labor and information that shaped both strategy and tactics as the Army of the Potomac moved on Richmond. These men and women became a "useful appendage" to the army and forced the question of "who are our friends?" on to northerners in general. Slaves became the trench diggers; the guides; and informants--passing along information on troop numbers and movements--but they also became much more: slavery was become an increasing concern for the A.O.P. (and the North as a whole). Slaves faced grievous dangers as they fled and as they served the Union. Their actions caused U.S. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells to proclaim; in one instance; he had known "none more meritorious." The influx of slaves into Union lines caused not only the army to questions slavery; but also required Congress to heavily debate the Second Confiscation Act and the military necessity of emancipation. The author is keen to point out that newspapers also carried the debates; and thus the northern public was made aware of the military arguments for emancipation. The military contributions of slaves on the peninsula spurred the debates; a fact Brasher drives home with success. Brasher is able to show that "By mid-July 1862; Abraham Lincoln's life-long moral objections to slavery; indications that Northerners increasingly supported sterner measures against the South; and the growing acceptance of the military necessity of emancipation all came together to doom the South's peculiar institution." In challenging the idea that Antietam is the battle that should be most associated with emancipation; Brasher's work is simply a must read for all interested in the Civil War.0 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Excellent Resource on Abolition and the Civil WarBy Beverly J. McNeillThe Peninsula Campaign and The Necessity of Emancipation is a fascinating book provides so much information on issues involved in that campaign..
