Reconstructing Patriarchy after the Great War

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Erika Kuhlman

   Pages 1-10

3. American Doughboys and German Fräuleins Securing Patriarchy and Privilege in the Occupied Rhineland

   • Erika Kuhlman

   Pages 11-38

4. Imperialism and Postwar Reconciliation The International and Transnational “Rhineland Horror” Campaign

   • Erika Kuhlman

   Pages 39-69

5. “What to do with the Germans?” American Exceptionalism and German-American Reconciliation

   • Erika Kuhlman

   Pages 71-103

6. Women Activists in the Postwar World Gender, Reconciliation, and Humanitarian Aid

   • Erika Kuhlman

   Pages 105-137

7. Binding up “Bitter Wounds” Gender, Nationalism, and Reconciliation on the Home Front in Germany and in the United States

   • Erika Kuhlman

   Pages 139-171

8. Epilogue

   • Erika Kuhlman

   Pages 173-178

9. Back Matter

   Pages 179-246

   PDF

This book, the first to study women's historical involvement in postwar reconciliation, examines how patriarchy and the international relations system operated simultaneously to ensure postwar male privilege.

• gender
• Germany
• imperialism
• Privileg
• women

"Kuhlman helps us to recognize that peacemaking is not exclusive to policymakers but also involves the process of reconciliation among human beings across and within national borders . . .With an enormous subject and complex ideas, the clarity and grace of Kuhlman s work are especially praiseworthy." - American Historical Review

"Kuhlman's transnational perspective broadens our understanding of the role of women activists in the post-war period while also providingoriginal insights into how forces at work on the ground normalized civilian life in Germany during that time.The book confirms in many ways the work of earlier scholars of the subject, while moving beyond that work to investigate the success of America in Germany and its reliance upon patriarchal norms to ensure peace. Kuhlman successfully balances the attempts made at reconciliation by some women s organizations and the ongoing perpetuation of wartime animosities by other groups. By essentially embedding women into the reconciliation process, she reveals both how they attempted to ensure that process but also, in other ways, how they perpetuated disharmony." - Maria Luddy, Professor of History, University of Warwick"The author succeeds admirably in providing her readers with a nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the process of international and domestic reconciliation in the post-war period in Germany and the United States and the complex ways in which the reestablishment of patriarchy was woven into this process... With an enormous subject and complex ideas, the clarity and grace of Kuhlman's work are especially praiseworthy." - Nancy K. Bristow, University of Puget Sound

ERIKA KUHLMAN is an Assistant Professor of History at Idaho State University, USA.