Communist Rhetoric and Feminist Voices in Cold War America
By (Author) Jennifer Keohane
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Lexington Books
5th January 2018
United States
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
Cold wars and proxy conflicts
Feminism and feminist theory
History of the Americas
History and Archaeology
305.42097309
Hardback
234
Width 166mm, Height 239mm, Spine 23mm
531g
This book tells the story of a group of women affiliated with the United States Communist Party (CPUSA) who used a variety of rhetorical resources to build credibility and transform the party into a vibrant dwelling place for feminist discourse and activism during a conservative period. It evidences Communist womens significant and creative resistance to Cold War society and its visions of appropriate, normal womanhood alongside their pleas for class and race consciousness in a country that took for granted the white, middle-class aspirations of citizens. Drawing on Marxist theory, transnational coalitions, and Cold War culture, Communist womens rhetorical strategies were incredibly powerful, and this book provides insight into how they catalyzed changes in a rigid political movement by establishing a platform for their radical ideals.
Jennifer Keohanes new book offers a counterhistory of the early Cold War that goes much deeper than the usual mix of Ike, bomb shelters, and McCarthyism. Here is a groundbreaking and well-researched look at the rhetorical dynamics of the American Communist Party, particularly its Cold War-era struggles over womens roles and their rightful place in society. Anyone interested in this crucial period in American historyor in the incomplete history of the feminist movementwill find in Communist Rhetoric and Feminist Voices an invigorating new vantage point. -- James J. Kimble, Seton Hall University; author, Mobilizing the Home Front: War Bonds and Domestic Propaganda
Considering the new globalized era, complete with saber rattling of global nuclear powers in recent years, Keohanes Communist Rhetoric and Feminist Voices in Cold War America is timely indeed. The book offers insights into the rhetorical complexity of discourses flourishing in the United States during the Cold War, but with the crucial inclusion of exemplars of womens rhetoric featuring intersectionality. Keohanes case studies recover and illuminate womens agency during a timeframe for which most narratives have elided womens voices and actions. From movies in pop culture to historical treatments, womens Cold War era rhetoric tends to be diminished, reduced to an overemphasis on visual style: womens coiffures, prim garb, and 50s cars. This book is a refreshing antidote, with scholarship that is relevant to areas of research and teaching from ethnic studies to rhetorical criticism, to womens and gender studies. Keohanes original take on Cold War communication is brought to life by vivid writing and amazing new examples showcasing womens courage and resiliency in difficult times, with continuing echoes in contemporary womens political agitation for justice. -- Ellen W. Gorsevski, Bowling Green State University
Jennifer Keohane's book represents a significant contribution to the study of radical persuasion, women's discourse, American Communism and Cold War rhetoric. In addition to the more familiar figure of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Keohane focuses a critical lens on less well-known figuressuch as Claudia Jones, providing readers with insight into the articulation and propagation of Black feminism within the Communist Party. The text also sheds light on women's activism during a time period largely omitted from feminist rhetorical criticism. It is an important work. -- Anne F. Mattina, Stonehill College
Jennifer Keohane is assistant professor in the Klein Family School of Communications Design at the University of Baltimore.