Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2018 -

Whittier (sociology, Smith College) has written a fascinating book about the shifting relationship between feminists and conservative activists on federal legislative debates about pornography, child sexual violence, and violence against women. She devotes a lengthy chapter to each, and each chapter can stand alone. The three core chapters are bracketed by an introductory chapter, which provides both theoretical and empirical background, and a concluding chapter, which draws out the implications of the case studies for sociological research. Whittier makes excellent use of transcripts from Congressional hearings--drawing on them to elucidate the relative roles of conservatives and feminists in framing issues--and of news reports, feminist and conservative publications, contemporaneous interviews, and archives of activist groups. This is truly an interdisciplinary book, using historical method to answer sociological questions. Although Whittier has previously written on each of the three issues--for example, in Feminist Generations: The Persistence of the Radical Women's Movement (CH, Dec'95, 33-2449)--the present book zeroes in on the complex and often troubled relationships between the partially opposed "frenemies" who find different models of alliance on each issue. Whittier's findings are especially important in demonstrating the influence of political context on social movement outcomes and also in providing empirical evidence about the pros and cons of "getting in bed with the enemy."Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.