Peace as a Women's Issue: A History of the U.S. Movement for World Peace and Women's Rights

Ranging from the abolitionist movement of the 19th century to the peace encampments of the 1980s, this broad, detailed history tracks the relationship between the movements for peace and for women's rights, noting how certain themes--``motherhood, the connections between militarism and violence against women, responsible citizenship, and independence from male control''--persist through the years. Alonso ( The Women's Peace Union and the Outlawry of War ) writes in style and detail that will appeal mainly to specialists, but she has dug up some interesting information: how Jewish women were at the forefront of activism in New York as fascism grew in Europe; how members of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom debated about neutrality during World War II; how the activists of the 1980s, working outside the political mainstream, were influenced by radical feminism. Enlivening the book are examples of peace literature over the years, such as a dialogue from the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in the late 1890s and an anti-Vietnam War flier from Women Strike for Peace. (Feb.)