Feminist Freikorps: The British Voluntary Women Police, 1914-1940

(Hardback)

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This text examines the Women Police Service. Formed in 1914 by middle-class veterans of the militant suffrage campaign in Britain, at odds throughout its history with authorities and mainstream feminist organizations, and often operating in defiance of the law, the Women Police Service combined authoritarianism and feminist activism to create its own concept of policing between world wars. The WPS was a feminist organization dedicated to the supervision and control of women themselves.

Reviews

A clearly written, interesting, well-documented, and enlightening book.-Choice
Douglas offers an intriguing interpretation of the links between early twentieth-century militant feminism and ultraconservative politics.-Journal of Women's History
Feminist Freikorps provides the first full account of those pioneering activists and organizers who confronted sexism and official resistance in their bid to put women in blue. Douglas's book is especially valuable as it clearly outlines, for the first time, the many organizations that sprang up on the eve of the Great War to harness this seemingly contradictory form of right-wing feminism...a thought-provoking and timely book. The lively, lucid, and often light tone of the narrative voice; the sensitive and often amusing biographical portraits of leading figures in the WPV; the thorough research and the skillful framing of the anecdotal evidence; and the generous complement of illustrations depicting the selfrepresentation and public reception of these renegade women in uniform, altogether make this not only a very valuable addition to the historiography but also a highly readable work.-Canadian Journal of History
"A clearly written, interesting, well-documented, and enlightening book."-Choice
"Douglas offers an intriguing interpretation of the links between early twentieth-century militant feminism and ultraconservative politics."-Journal of Women's History
"Feminist Freikorps provides the first full account of those pioneering activists and organizers who confronted sexism and official resistance in their bid to put women in blue. Douglas's book is especially valuable as it clearly outlines, for the first time, the many organizations that sprang up on the eve of the Great War to harness this seemingly contradictory form of right-wing feminism...a thought-provoking and timely book. The lively, lucid, and often light tone of the narrative voice; the sensitive and often amusing biographical portraits of leading figures in the WPV; the thorough research and the skillful framing of the anecdotal evidence; and the generous complement of illustrations depicting the selfrepresentation and public reception of these renegade women in uniform, altogether make this not only a very valuable addition to the historiography but also a highly readable work."-Canadian Journal of History

Author Bio

R. M. DOUGLAS is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the History Department at Colgate University.