Women Defendants Research Articles

Mary Wollstonecraft’s Influence on French Revolutionary Educational Reform

ABSTRACT When Mary Wollstonecraft travelled to Paris in December 1792, she was already well-known there as a republican writer, and a defender of women’s rights, particularly to education. Her philosophy of education was very closely tied to her republican beliefs – to educate a child in the right way was to preserve her from domination. In Paris, Wollstonecraft became friends with several famous Girondins, including Madame Roland and Jacques-Pierre Brissot. She was asked to participate in the drafting of Nicolas de Condorcet's report on the reform of education. Condorcet was himself an early proponent of women's rights in France and unlike his predecessor, Talleyrand, he did not want to leave women out from French educational reforms. Although her notes on this report did not survive, I argue that Wollstonecraft did in fact influence French educational reforms. Looking at the reception of Wollstonecraft's work among the Girondins, and Condorcet's early drafts of the reform proposal, I argue that Wollstonecraft's legacy in the final years of the Revolution can be traced in particular to the 1795 Loi Daunou and its corresponding report, by Joseph Lakanal, on girls’ primary education.

Gender Equality in Women's Leadership Through The Perspective of The Qur'an and Sayyidah Aisyah Radhiyallahu'Anha

Gender equality which is implemented correctly can have positive impacts on all social aspects. As in the case of aspects of women's leadership that need to be respected without any discrimination. The aim of this research focuses on how to understand gender equality and women's leadership through the perspective of the Qur’an and Sayyidah Aisyah Radhiyallahu'Anha that can be applied to fulfill society's understanding regarding all issues in the aspect of gender equality. The research method used in this research is a qualitative descriptive method with data collection techniques through literature study by collecting relevant data from books, journals, etc. without having to conduct field reviews. The research results that contain the concept of gender equality and women's leadership from the perspective of the Qur’an, are explained in several surahs; some of them are Surah An-Nisa:124, An-Nahl:97, Al-Hujurat:13, An-Naml:23-44, Al-Furqan:74 and also understanding the leadership of Sayyidah Aisyah Radhiyallau'Anha; such as her leadership of the Jamal war, as well as the military. She was also involved in politics and most importantly she was a defender of women. Viewed from these two perspectives, it proves that Islam recognizes gender equality. Men and women have the same right to be leaders.

“Normal in all the rush”: A phenomenological study analyzing midwifery students' views on obstetric violence

IntroductionIn recent years, obstetric violence, which undermines women's dignity and autonomy, has received increased attention worldwide. Considering the importance of midwives in combating violence in the obstetric field and the significance of the discussed issue, the following question arises: How do future midwives view obstetric violence? ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate midwifery students' thoughts about obstetric violence. Design and methodThis study was conducted using a phenomenological qualitative research design. This study, which adopted a descriptive approach and used typical case sampling, was conducted in the midwifery department of the Kutahya Health Sciences University. Sixteen midwifery students studying fourth-year in the 2018–2019 academic year, who had participated in childbirth during their studies, and who agreed to participate in the study were included. All students had the experience of repeated monitoring and presence in labor. They had witnessed births in different institutions. Focus group interviews were conducted using an unstructured interview guide to obtain data for the study. Data were collected through four focus group interviews with groups of four students in the classroom environment. The data were evaluated separately by two researchers using the content analysis method in MAXQDA Analytics Pro 2020. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Studies guidelines were used as a guide in reporting. ResultsAs a result of the analysis, four main themes emerged: defining violence, causes of violence, effects of witnessing violence, and whether can violence be prevented? ConclusionsMidwifery students have an awareness of all visible forms of obstetric violence. However, they were less aware of the invisible structural and policy drivers of obstetric violence. It is invaluable to raise awareness of obstetric violence among midwifery students, who will be the most important defenders of women in childbirth. Studies focused on education and policy will contribute to women receiving quality care at birth.

A global analysis of violence against women defenders in environmental conflicts

Women environmental defenders face retaliation for mobilizing against extractive and polluting projects, which perpetrate violence against Indigenous, minority, poor and rural communities. The issue matters because it highlights the gendered nature of extractive violence and the urgent need to address the systemic patterns of violence that affect women defenders, who are often overlooked and underreported. Here we analyse violence against women defenders in environmental conflicts around the world. We use data from the Environmental Justice Atlas and employ log-linear and binomial regressions to find statistically significant patterns in displacement, repression, criminalization, violent targeting and assassinations committed against women defenders in extractive conflicts. Statistical results indicate that violence against women defenders is concentrated among mining, agribusiness and industrial conflicts in the geographical South. Repression, criminalization and violent targeting are closely linked, while displacement and assassination appear as extreme outcomes when conflict violence worsens. Women defenders experience high rates of violence regardless of countries’ governance accountability and gender equality. This work contributes to the broader sustainability agenda by highlighting the need to address the impacts of extractive activities on women.

The marks of gender in the defence of human rights in Colombia

ABSTRACT The role of women human rights defenders in Colombia is fundamental. The conditions of socioeconomic inequality, gender-based inequalities and discrimination, and the armed conflict have been complex scenarios in which women’s leadership in the defence of human rights and peace have played a leading role. The creation of diverse collective processes and social networks at the local and national levels have been crucial strategies in the work of women defenders, their advocacy, and their forms of resistance. Their impact is undeniable. However, the work of women human rights defenders in Colombia has not been easy and has been frequently threatened. Hundreds of women human rights defenders have left the country as exiles over the past three decades or have been forcibly displaced within the country to protect their lives, many have suffered direct attacks, and some of them have been killed. The forms and impacts of violence against them have differential characteristics with respect to other defenders, which reveal the presence of gender stereotypes. In addition, indigenous, peasant, and lesbian, bisexual and trans women (LBT women) defenders face aggravated risks. Paradoxically, their visibility in the defence of peace has had very high costs for them after the signing of the Peace Accord between government and FARC-EP guerrillas in 2016. Women here are at a differential risk not only because they support the Peace Accord implementation in contexts where there are sectors that oppose it, but because they have gone beyond the low-key behaviour that is still expected for women in the political arena in many places of Colombia. Despite all this, they continue to lead the defence of human rights and their political advocacy has led to the creation of specific protection programmes for them by the Colombian state, the implementation of which is currently a challenge.

Теодора Хаджидимитрова (1884–1963). Ролята на жената художник в България

Teodora Hadzhidimitrova (1884–1963) was a painter, pedagogue, fashion designer, decorator, folklorist, local historian, the first female art teacher and municipal councillor, defender of women’s rights, writer, and founding member of the following societies: Ravnopravie (Equality), Rodno izkustvo (Native Art), the Society of the Sliven artists, and the Club of cultural figures in Sliven. She was the first compiler and publisher of a Bulgarian textbook on the history of clothing.

Analysing the impact of being a sole or primary carer for dependent relatives on the sentencing of women in the Crown Court, England and Wales

Most quantitative sentencing research treats women and men as a homogeneous group leading to gaps in the literature regarding women’s experiences of sentencing procedures. This is problematic given the vast array of known harms that result from incarcerating women, particularly those with caring responsibilities for children. This exploratory article shares the findings from a quantitative study which considers the sentencing of women, with a particular focus on the ‘sole or primary carer for dependent relatives’ mitigation when applied to mothers. Using data from the Crown Court Sentencing Survey 2011–2015, a sample of 18,314 women defendants was derived and investigated using descriptive, bivariate and regression analysis to explore the relationship between the ‘caring’ mitigation and non-custodial sentences. The findings suggest that when the mitigation is applied to sentences of women who are carers of dependents, it does not have a strong enough relationship with non-custodial sentences. This article provides hitherto unknown statistical data and highlights the need for further research.

Battered Women Charged with Homicide: Expert Consultation, Evaluation, and Testimony

ABSTRACT Expert testimony on “Intimate Partner Battering and its Effects” (IPBE) and “Battered Woman Syndrome” (BWS) is offered in courtrooms to assist the factfinder in making more informed decisions in cases involving battered women defendants. Such testimony situates a battered woman’s behavior in the context, thereby making sense of behavior that might appear dysfunctional, inappropriate, culpable, or otherwise impossible to understand from an objective frame of reference. Expert participation in battered women’s criminal cases can be influential at many junctures in the case. This paper explores potential roles for expert consultation. such as educating prosecutors and defense attorneys, potentially influencing charging/plea decisions. Forensic evaluation reports document a battered woman’s history and responses to IPV that can be relied upon by defense attorneys to develop more effective legal defense strategies pertinent to IPV history. Experts may assist in jury selection and provide general or case-specific testimony that may provide an alternative framework within which a defendant’s thoughts, actions, and behaviors can be more appropriately understood within the context of intimate partner battering. At the post-trial stage, experts may assist in sentencing, state and federal post-conviction proceedings, clemency, probation, and parole proceedings. Post-conviction and habeas corpus claims often relate to expert testimony that was either not offered at trial in a battered woman’s first trial, or excluded by a judge. In those cases, an expert may assist by preparing a declaration in support of a habeas corpus petition and/or testifying at any subsequent hearing to explain the myriad ways in which expert participation might have led to a more lenient outcome in the original trial.

Moscow Jadid: Theological and Legal Views of Imam ‘Abdulwadud Fattahetdinov (1882–1954)

The article for the first time describes the theological and legal views of a famous Moscow imam ‘Abdulwadud Fattaheddinov’ (1882–1954), identifi ed on the basis of analysis of one of his publications in “Shura” Journal. Presenting a detailed critique of two Qadimist fatwas, it quite vividly characterizes its author as a consistent progressive man who denies blind imitation of tradition in matters of religion, who calls for modern rational proofs of Islamic truths and explanations of the Quran, the author comes as a supporter of a principle of “Sharia goals” and a defender of women’s rights. At the same time, the theologian bases his fatwa-making not only on his own interpretation of the sacred primary sources, but also appeals to classical works of a traditional for Tatars Hanafi madhhab. The research for the first time among Russian Muslims coveys the need for the translation of Quran and other Islamic literature into Russian. The paper also reports the unknown fact of the fi rst neophyte Muslims appearance in Russia just after granting freedom of conscience by the Provisional Government in July 1917.

Realities beyond reporting: women environmental defenders in South Africa

ABSTRACT Women environmental defenders continue to face marginalization despite their growing significance in ecological conflicts. The media’s role in empowering or further rendering them invisible is unclear. This study thus examines depictions of South African women defenders in news articles. A feminist critical discourse analysis of 98 media reports about 48 conflicts suggests a typology of the conflicts and the women involved. I argue that media depictions of women defenders can sometimes enact discursive violence by imposing agendas and stereotypes that do not reflect their lived realities. This study identifies two tropes depicting women defenders as desperate mothers or underdogs, which empowers yet silences diverse women in diverse ways. The implications of such archetypes are that reporting may not only oversimplify the complexity of their experiences, but also contribute to pressures on women to be self-sacrificing and docile.

Pizan, Christine de. "The God of Love's Letter" and "The Tale of the Rose": A Bilingual edition eds. and trans. by Thelma S. Fenster and Christine Reno

Reviewed by: Pizan, Christine de. "The God of Love's Letter" and "The Tale of the Rose": A Bilingual editioneds. and trans. by Thelma S. Fenster and Christine Reno Ashley Holt Pizan, Christine de. "The God of Love's Letter" and "The Tale of the Rose": A Bilingual edition. Eds. and trans. Thelma S. Fenster and Christine Reno. With Jean Gerson's "A Poem on Man and Woman."Thomas O'Donnell. Trans. Foreword by Jocelyn Wogan-Browne. The Toronto Series, 79. Iter Press, 2021. Pp [xiii]- 209. ISBN 978-1-64959-006-0. $41.95 (paper). ISBN 978-1-64959-007-7. $41.95 (eBook). In this volume, respected Christine de Pizan scholars Thelma S. Fenster and Christine Reno provide meticulously translated editions of Christine de Pizan's poems " The God of Love's Letter" [ Epistre au Dieu d'amours] and " The Tale of the Rose" [ La Dit de la Rose]. The text's generous introduction covers Christine's work as a defender of women and public figure—in particular, her participation in the Querelle de la Rose. Brief descriptions of the manuscripts consulted are given and editorial policies are explained. Thomas O'Donnell similarly introduces his translation of Jean Gerson's poem "A Poem on Man and Woman"—included at the end of this volume as an example of the misogyny of "official" Church doctrine. This includes general background to Christine's adoption and use of the language of "natural law" as a methodical push back against systemic misogynism. Fenster and Reno's creation of "genetic presentations" of "The God of Love's Letter" and "The Tale of the Rose" is noteworthy. Based on the earliest extant manuscripts of each poem, their editions attempt to trace Christine's editorial changes to the texts over time. This is accomplished through translation notes, historical background, notes on Christine's literary influences, and rejected readings and spelling variants of the various extant manuscripts. Fenster follows in Christine's footsteps: reworking earlier versions of translations she wrote with Mary Carpenter Erler in their 1990 work, Poems of Cupid, God of Love. The modern English translations of Christine's poems are a pleasure to read. While it slightly diverts attention from the original verse, the English facing translations are helpful for those who do not read Middle French. The choice to translate Christine's verse into prose, rather than preserving its rhyme scheme, faithfully preserves the meaning of the original Middle French. Textual notes following each poem illuminate the translators' word choices as well the historical and literary influences that play a role in Christine's work. O'Donnell's translation of Gerson's "A Poem on Man and Woman" is an interesting addition to the end of this volume as an example of the entrenched misogyny and complex system of social and political inequality that inspired Christine's work. However, this poem's placement at the end of the text feels like something of an afterthought, rather than a conversation with Christine's poems. Fenster and Reno bring together their considerable expertise to contextualize two of Christine's earliest works championing women framed against her engagement in the infamous Querelle. There is little new material in the introduction for Christine specialists. However, Fenster and Reno's carefully [End Page 198]curated content would be ideal for students and independent scholars, either of French literature or women's and gender studies, looking to increase their depth of understanding of Christine as a writer, intellectual, editor, participant in scholastic debate, and public defender of women. The bilingual format, guide to reading Christine's poetry, and translator's notes make this text invaluable for use in both undergraduate and graduate courses. Ashley Holt Louisiana State University Copyright © 2022 Women in French Studies

Women, Gender Politics, and Resistance in Kashmir

This article focuses on Kashmiri women and the gender politics underpinning the August 5, 2019 revocation of Article 370 in Kashmir. Reclaiming Kashmiri women’s property rights was among the justifications cited by the state for revoking Kashmir’s autonomy. Paradoxically, however, most analyses centered on its political implications. Kashmiri women’s opinions regarding the revocation, the state’s use of the women’s rights argument to justify the same, or Kashmiri women’s rights and experiences in the wake of the revocation were seldom the subjects of discussion or analysis. Beginning with a brief overview of Kashmiri women’s role in the Kashmiri struggle, I juxtapose the State’s claim as defender of Kashmiri women’s property rights against the legal and factual position of women’s property rights in Kashmir prior to the revocation, demonstrating the contradiction between the two. I subsequently foreground the gendered, misogynist sub-text of nationalist rhetoric unleashed in the wake of the revocation. The convergence between hyper-nationalist, masculinist claims to Kashmir’s territory on the one hand, and to Kashmiri women’s bodies on the other, is highlighted. This particular dimension, I maintain, symbolises the gendered edge of the Indian State’s policy of colonial and ethnic domination in Kashmir. In the final section, I use local Kashmiri reportage on Kashmiri women’s views, subjective experience, and collective resistance to contest (a) constructs of the apolitical, victimised, agency-less Kashmiri Muslim woman, and (b) state claims to Kashmiri, especially Kashmiri women’s endorsement of the revocation. Kashmiri women’s resistance, I conclude, is part of a Kashmiri struggle underpinned by the universal principles of justice and liberty; it symbolises the need for a just and peaceful resolution to Kashmir’s tragedy.

A comparative study of women environmental defenders’ antiviolent success strategies

This research advances knowledge on the understudied topics of violence against women and their contributions to ecological movements through a multiple case study analysis of 25 women defenders listed in the EJAtlas, an environmental conflict database. Women’s mobilization is often constrained within cultural contexts limiting them to gendered spaces and roles and punishing them with multiple violences. Women defenders’ distinctly gendered violent experiences thus inform their perspectives, narratives, and advocacy. Women defenders assert authority and achieve movement success by emphasizing aspects of identity within and despite unevenly faced barriers, brutality, and burdens. These multi-faceted tactics contribute to emancipation beyond just women and their communities by dismantling violent hegemonies while promoting alternative, inclusive, and antiviolent visions of environmental justice.

O desafio à Proteção Multinível no Caso Margarida Alves: análise sobre as perspectivas de gênero e do devido processo legal nos estândares interamericanos de proteção integral de defensoras e defensores de direitos humanos

This article analyzes the Margarida Alves case to the challenge of multilevel protection based on two conceptual and obligatory standards of what would be necessary for the integral protection of human rights defenders: effectiveness of due process of law and differentiated protection to women defenders. It is a bibliographical-documentary and jurisprudential research that begins with the conceptualization of the defenders and includes its action as defender, follows with presentation of the assassination of the leader and submission of the case to the Inter-American System. Finally, such standards are critically related to the protection visualized in this case and the urgency of being immediately implemented for the protection of brazilian defenders.

Byzantine Healing Amulets from Southwestern Crimea

Introduction. The article presents two unique items from the Southwestern Crimea – a bronze finger ring with an image of a lion-headed serpent Chnoubis, originating from a female burial of the first quarter of the 7 th century of the Gothic-Alanian burial ground near the village of Luchistoye, and a bronze medallion, which was found in the area of the village of Goncharnoye, with magic signs, formulas and an image of Chnoubis, which is tied to an altar, fighting a snake. Methods. According to some similar findings from the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire, the ring and the medallion are attributed to the group of Byzantine medical amulets. The amulets of the Early Byzantine time demonstrate continuity with pre-Christian magical practices, therefore, late ancient magical gems and texts were involved to decipher the plots and inscriptions engraved on those amulets. Analysis. The finger ring was intended to improve digestion and to treat diseases of a digestive tract. The woman who owned the item was wearing it in a chest necklace, at the level of her stomach – just as it was recommended in medical treatises to wear amulets for abdominal pain. The medallion was a complex amulet intended for women. Chnoubis in the scene of fighting the snake and the spell ÐÉÍÏ are depicted on both sides of the medallion. In one case, Chnoubis is a guardian of a stomach and a fighter against diseases of the digestive tract, whose actions are enhanced by the three times repeated spell ÐÉÍÏ, which contributes to better digestion. In the second case, Chnoubis is a defender of women’s health, and the disappearing word ÐÉÍÏ should help stop pathological uterine bleeding. The action of the amulet is enhanced by a formula against demons that cause disease, and its healing properties are confirmed by the inscription ÕÃÉÁ (health). Such an amulet should be worn suspended from the neck by a long cord, or fastened to the belt. Results. Both items belong to the group of medical magic amulets. They were brought from the Eastern Mediterranean provinces of the Empire, where in the 6th – 7th centuries there were magic amulets similar in form and repertoire of protective means. The appearance of such items among the Gothic-Alanian population of the Southwestern Crimea is not surprising. The influence of the Byzantine civilization on all aspects of the life of the local population in the Early Middle Ages can be traced both from written sources and from numerous archaeological findings.

GENDER ISSUES IN THE ANTI-IMMIGRANT AGENDA OF EUROPEAN RADICAL RIGHT

An attempt to show the role of women's rights in the anti-immigrant agenda of European radical right has been undertaken in the article. The author addresses to representative trends of modern right-wing radicals in Europe. The concept of «Eurabia» and the theory of Great Replacement are used as the theoretical substantiation of the anti-migrant views of right-wing radicals. The main message of these theories is related to the fact that the decline in the birth rate in Europe, combined with the increase in migrant flows, will lead to the replacement of European politics and lifestyle with Islamic values. Radical right emphasize that the European way of life and values are fundamentally incompatible with the Muslim way of life. Moreover, within the framework of the policy of modernizing their image, right-wing radicals complement the concept of «traditional European values», which they have always defended, with «liberal» values of women's emancipation. Thus, right-wing radicals are forming the image of European enemy - a patriarchal Muslim migrant. To recreate this portrait and to identify the main features of the rhetoric of right-wing radicals regarding the threat of a migrant invasion of female emancipation, the author addresses party programs, political posters, interviews with party leaders, media materials and right-wing radical news portals. Special attention is paid to the debate about the right to wear the veil - the main pressure point for the European right, for whom veil is a kind of «banner» of Islam. The foregoing allows concluding that, on the one hand, the use of the women's rights expands the range of arguments of right-wing radicals against European migration policy, and on the other hand, it allows radical right to establish themselves as defenders of women's rights associated with human rights as the main European value.

María Teresa León en España Republicana: La mujer, los escritores, la guerra. Una lectura a partir de sus artículos de 1941 y 1942

En este trabajo son analizados los artículos que María Teresa León escribió para la publicación periódica España Republicana durante 1941 y 1942, con el fin de describir la consideración de la autora sobre la mujer en diferentes roles y situaciones en el marco de una particular coyuntura histórica. Esto permite pensar nuevas formas de interpretar los procesos históricos poniendo énfasis en la experiencia colectiva de las mujeres defensoras de la República Española.

Un Hombre Puede Hacerlo, pero ¿una Mujer? A Critical Discourse Analysis Showing how Mexican Women might be Machistas

Thousands of women die every day all over the world due to violence. Mexico is a country in which it is believed that machismo is one of the reasons why women are violated and murdered. There is the stereotype of believing that the female gender is being mistreated directly by men. However, this study aimed to show how women express themselves with a negative connotation against their own gender. Perhaps, females portrait themselves as feminists or women defenders. Nonetheless, their language states their true position. This project employed a critical discourse analysis under the use of Fairclough’s model. The results demonstrated how the discourse employed by the participants highlighted a machista perception towards women.

Gendered geographies of violence: a multiple case study analysis of murdered women environmental defenders

This study illustrates how, despite the diversity of women environmental defenders and their movements around the world, there are near-universal patterns of violence threatening their survival. Violence against women environmental defenders, often perpetrated by government-backed corporations, remains overlooked. Research on this issue importantly contributes to discussions about environmental justice because women defenders make up a large proportion of those at the frontlines of ecological distribution conflicts. Through comparative political ecology, this research analyzes cases from the Environmental Justice Atlas, an online open-access inventory of environmental distribution conflicts, in which one or more women were assassinated while fighting a diverse array of extractive and polluting projects. Although the stories showcase a breadth of places, conflicts, social-class backgrounds, and other circumstances between women defenders, most cases featured multinational large-scale extractive companies supported by governments violently targeting women defenders with impunity.Keywords: Violence, murder, women environmental defenders, EJAtlas, comparative political ecology

Equality: An American Dilemma, 1866–1896 by Charles Postel

Reviewed by: Equality: An American Dilemma, 1866–1896 by Charles Postel Daniel Mandell Equality: An American Dilemma, 1866–1896. By Charles Postel. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019. Pp. [x], 390. $30.00, ISBN 978-0-8090-7963-6.) Equality: An American Dilemma, 1866–1896 examines the origins, leadership, policies, and evolution of three huge organizations—the farmers' Grange, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), and the Knights of Labor—that emerged after the Civil War and became prominent national organizations pushing deep egalitarian reforms. Unfortunately, as Charles Postel shows, when these organizations each launched a southern strategy to gain national strength, they and their egalitarian ideals foundered on the rocks of racism and Redemption. Postel begins with the Grange, organized in December 1867 to advocate for farmers' rights against corporate interests. Although it embraced sexual equality, when the organization emphasized politics, women found themselves relegated to kitchens. More significant, one of the Grange founders, Oliver Kelley, sought sectional reconciliation, which meant "white solidarity between the northern farmer and the southern planter, and silence on the question of equality for African Americans" (p. 21). By the mid-1870s, Grange groups in the South were known for Ku Klux Klan activities and helped Democratic "redeemers" impose white rule, and those in the North built anticorporate coalitions with racist Democrats. Equality then delves into the WCTU, organized in 1873 and for decades the country's largest and most powerful women's organization. The WCTU [End Page 925] connected prohibition to sexual equality in the family, community, and workplace, with a liberal wing (led by Frances Willard) advocating woman suffrage. The WCTU similarly pursued white nationalist reconciliation, as Willard traveled to the South and returned to launch a national party that would "weld the Anglo-Saxons of the New World into one royal family" (p. 138). The WCTU incorporated racialist ideas in calls to limit the political rights of African Americans, Chinese immigrants, and Native Americans. Postel then examines how the Knights of Labor became the first significant national labor organization after Terence V. Powderly became its head in 1879. It enlisted all laborers regardless of trade, skill, sex, or race (with the glaring exception of the Chinese). But in 1885, Powderly went south, like Kelley and Willard, and endorsed racial separation. Black laborers in the South still joined in large numbers as Knights leadership continued to push for equal wages and conditions, but that egalitarian element was shattered when white Louisianans joined to massacre striking cane workers in 1887. Equality ends by examining how, despite these organizations and the egalitarian writings by Henry George and Edward Bellamy, the United States descended into the Gilded Age and violent apartheid in the late 1880s. The Supreme Court overrode the Fourteenth Amendment in order to protect economic and racial hierarchies; the WCTU defended lynch mobs as defenders of white women; and the Knights through Powderly applauded the explicitly "whites only" Farmers' Alliance. These organizations, in combination with other groups, formed the People's Party in 1892, which marked the crest of the post–Civil War egalitarian wave but ultimately failed as racism created fatal fissures. An epilogue brings readers to the present, noting how labor unions played a critical role in forging a more equal nation during the New Deal and the civil rights movement, but were dismantled by corporations and their political allies in the 1980s. Postel's view of late-nineteenth-century America spotlights how the efforts of reformers to counter the growing power of wealthy corporations and "bosses" were undermined by the embrace of racism. He emphasizes the role of the South in this process, as each organization went off the rails when their leadership forged alliances with white elites in the region. While readers might want to know more about the nation's racist soil that seemed so receptive to those southern seeds, Postel's deep dig into the farmers' Grange, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and the Knights of Labor provides useful lessons about reform efforts during that period as well as about the persistent fissures in the long effort to build "a just and equal society" (p. 318). Daniel Mandell Truman State University Copyright © 2020 Southern...