Book Reviews Sandra Birdsell, The Two-Headed Calf (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1997). Paperback, 269 pp. $19.99. A new work of fiction by the talented Sandra Birdsell is always a welcolne gift. When the book is as good as this one, her readers can enjoy an added bonus. Birdsell began as a writer of short fiction back in the eighties with two highly promising collections-Night Travellers (1982') andLadies oJtheHo~ise (1984)- followed by two novels which fiirther enhanced her reputation. Now she is back with an even stronger collection of short stories, her first in a dozen years, and one that richly demonstrates what an accomplished short story writer she has become. In Mavis Gallant and Alice Monroe, Canada boasts two o r the finest writers of short fiction in English, and with this vol~une Sandra Birdsell proves she is not far behind. She lnay not yet display quite the wise coslnopolitanisln and subtlety of forln displayed by Gallant, or quite match the startling depths of insight of Monroe, but she is getting closer to both in all these qualities. Each of these nine stories is a polished gem, but then not all gems are of equal quality or value. And although Mennonite readers lilte to think of Birdsell as one ol'their own, only three of these stories draw explicitly on Mennonite back- gro~mds and contain identifiable Mennonite characters. But those three-"A Necessary Treason," "The Man from Mars" and the title story "The Two- I-Ieaded Calf1--are among the strongest in the book in their vivid authenticity, relevant themes and searing emotions. In "The Two-Headed Calf" she explores with wonderful colnplexity a theme close to her heart, the theme oftrying to find self-identity in the cultural and familial confusion ofgrowing up partly Menno- nite and partly French-Metis. Sylvia, born out of wedlock to Betty, her rebel Jour-?in/ o / . M e ~ ~ r ~ o ~ ~ i t e Stirdies Val. 15, 1997 Book Reviatjs .?$ 7 lious, teen-aged Mennonite mother, grows up not knowing who her father is. I-Ier wise old Mennonite grandfather keeps urging her to "Just be you," but for Sylvia it's not that simple. I-Ier grandmother Malvina spurns her as illegitimate and holds up as a paragon the memory of Neta, her beautiful daughter who was raped and killed by anarchists in Russia. By the tiine Sylvia intuits that her lather was the brother of Lucille, her mother's adolescent French pal, the revelation comes too late. Sylvia knows she will always reinain the "two-headed calf," an apparition she once saw at the fair, a freakish image that still haunts her. Its two brains, she realizes, would always cancel each other out and "the c a l f s heart had stopped beauty." In "A Necessary Treason," Janice, the middle-aged daughter of Sadie, finally comprehends that her ageing mother, still harboring illusions of cultuu-a1 superiority bred by lier early years in Mennonite Russia, had to commit "a necessary treason" against her family in order to free herself from rigid Mennonite restraints. Sadie was only thirteen when she left R.ussia in tile twenties, and relneinbers the times of terror very clearly. I-fer aunts and older sisters she suspects, had "come to lmow desperate things she doesn't." Now, remaining as head-strong as ever in lzer old age, Sadie has developed "an apocalyptic eye" and sees symbols, portents and omens everywhere as she awaits "the r e t ~ u n of Christ." It takes Neil, the Mennonite friend Janice brings home, to place her noth her in a dubious Mennonite context. He tells her that Mennonites are probably pacifists because "They're lixated by death and dying." Janice can only watch helplessly as her mother reinains trapped in the past. "The Man from Mars" is a inoving story about an impoverished Mennonite family returning to Canada from Mexico in a battered old truck and with no specific destination. Birdsell gets everything achingly right in this story as she depicts Willie, the coarse, shiftless, sex-obsessed father bringing his put-upon wife and two young daughters to Manitoba, the province he had left with his parents as a child. Suffering rro~n culture shock, unable to adapt himself to new conditions get anything but the most menial of jobs, Willie finally defects, slinking away from his family only to get killed by a car outside Ivlinot, North Dakota. Released from her brutally oppressive husband, Eva, the sex-abused wife, takes out a new lease on life, works happily as a cook in a hotel, and evenh~ally inarries a retired Mennonite fanner. The crude evcnts ofthe story are sensitively filtered through the mind and sensibility of Sara, one of the two daughters. Both prove to be "whiz lcids" who grow up getting an e'ducation and later look back at their father as a "man froin Mars" who "is overcome by air too heavy to breathe or to speak the deserts and fires he carries inside." Most of the other (non-Mennonite) stories are eqtiall y accomplished, several utilizing ~ n u s u a l techniq~~es and narrative strategies. In "Disappearances" an elderly couple, Frances and Donald, are on their way to Saskatoon to attend the trial of their errant granddaughter, who has been charged with manslaughter. The focus of the story is not on the trial, however, but on the complex kelings the 248 J o u ~ ~ z n l oj‘Me~z~torzite Studies grandparents have about the inimaginably horrible experience that awaits them in Saskatoon. As respectable and responsible members of an older generation, they can only go helplessly over the incriminating evidence as they know it, reflect on their dauglltcr's need for money to pay for their grandda~~ghter's trial, and to dread what is to come. The story ends before they even gel to their destination. Having resigned herself to the inevitable, Frances, at the end of the story, watches in helpless fascination as Donald "marches towards the dug-out pond" where they have stopped, and disappears. Does he actually drown himself, or is it a trick of the eye experienced by the suffering Frances? It's a trick ending that may only work for readers who do not demand explicit realism. The first two stories, "I Used to Play Brass in a Band" and "The Midnight I-Iour" explore the delicate, manifold play of forces between Lorraine and her daughter Christine. The first story is narratedby Lorraine, who as amiddle-aged mother returns to her home in Winnipeg after living in Vancouver and remem- bers the time Christine, now living in Japan, had brought home tlree strange brothers because they had nowhere else to go. Lorraine had herself become involved in the lives of the brothers after Christine left for Japan. The mother learns to cope with her daughter's generation through these contacts in ways she was unable to do directly with her daughter. In "The Midnight Hour" it is Clu-istine who narrates the tangled story of her fifteenth birthday. Birdsell skilfttlly captures the conflicting feelings and aspirations of the teen-aged girl, who is bright but increasingly bored living with her mother. The experience of being picked LIP, along with her two girl friends, by an older man in Assiniboine Park who takes theln to his apartment with the aim of seducing them, in the end brings her closer to her mother as she realizes the danger she has barely escaped. The clevcr reversal of generational point of view tellingly reveals the nuances of a mother-claughter relationship. Sandra Birdsell is not afraid to tackle off-beat themes or venture into scenes of the macabre that mix grim 11~11nor with sinister effects. "The Ballad of the Sargent Brothers" is a country gothic tale about a pair of confirmed bachelor twins living in isolation on a fann in southern Manitoba. Their stagnant lives are suddenly disrupted and tragically hirned by a well-meaning y o ~ n g woman from a neighboring farm who invades the brothers's lives withdevastating effect. It is a haunting story with a beautifi~lly written ending, and Birdsell demonstrates that she can manage the difficult combination of gothic mood and thwarted romance with impressive style. With t h ~ s collection Sandra Birdsell shows that she has it all as a writer of fiction: she can be wryly funny, she can provide finely judged insights, create memorable characters and command moods that shade from sunny to dark to disturbingly ominous. Above all, she shows that she has the command of style and form we expect from the top ecllelon of Canadian writers. A1 Reimer, Winnipeg, Manitoba Book Revie~vs 249 Helene Dueck, Dtirch Triibsnl und Not (Winnipeg: Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Winnipeg, 1995). Whenever a group of post World War I1 Mennonite immigrants above the age of 65-70 gets together, a part of the conversation inevitably turns to the so- called "Great Trek" of 1943 to 1945, when 35000 Mennonites were evacuated from Ukraine (of w h o ~ n about 22000 were later "repatriated" by the Soviet Union). The mode of transportation of these evacuees rangedfrom freight trains (in the Old Colony and Sagradowka), arelatively fast and safe mode, to caravans of covered wagons of motley description (in the Molochnaia) over frequently soggy roads. Old men and young boys were among the few inales in this exodus, the able bodied Inen were either in the Gulag or else had been recruited by the German occupation forces. As the proverbial saying goes, this trelc "beggars all description." It is the subject of the above mentioned boolc. Almost any nuimber of descriptions, poems and reflections, :some good, some mediocre and maudlin, have surfaced from this unprecedented collective experience. This book is one of the latest of this genre. Its author 1s IIclene Dueck whose family was torn apart in three violent stages. IIer father was a victim of the purges of the 1930's; her brothers were part of the 1941 evacuation of the Molochnaia (half of the Molochnaia was evacuated to the East by the Sovlets before the arrival of the Gerinan troops) and her mother and her sisters were "repatriated" by the Soviets in 1945. The author has divided her book into two parts: the story of her inother and sisters, and the story of her own odyssey. She did not share the fate of her family because she was a student of the Priscliib LBA (teacher training instituite) operated by the occnpying German forces for the ethnic Gerinan (Volksdeutsche) of Ulcraine. These schools, including one in Kiev, were evacuated by the retreating Gerrnans to some extent separately from the other ethnic Germans and Mennonites. While the author was together with her mother and sisters for part of the evacuation, she was not there when they were "repatriated" She was far enough west to escape the Soviets and to be an early beneficiary of the Allied efforts to resettle the refi~gees as early as possible. Through the help of Benjamin Unruh and the kfe1717017itsche RLII~CISCI?~LL she established contacit with an unclc in Canada and inoved there in early 1948. By and large the account is fascinating reading. In places i t is a veritable "page turner". On the other hand, the reader frequently catches himself wishing for a little more coherence and clarity The march of tunes and places hecolnes a bit bluu-red after a while (as no doubt it was experienced at the time) While the foreword states that the text has been capably edited, this reviewer too often found hilnself wishing for Inore stringent editorial incisions IIc: was surprised (if not dismayed) at the kind and nuunber of orthographical and gralnmatlcal errors, not to speak of stylistic infractions which the editors must have over- looked. A good revislon of the text would make a good boolc Into one 25 0 Jotrt.tza1 ofMetzr~or~ite Studies approaching excellence. But another building block has been added to an edifice of epic proportions. The story of the "Great Trek" in its entirety has yet to be written. I-Iistorians will be grateful far every piece of information. I-Iere is a sizable brick. Gerhard Ens Winnipeg George K. Epp, Gesctzichte derikIeiznorziten in Rtissland: De~itsche Tae~lfer in R~lssland B a n d 1 (Lage, Germany: Logos Verlag, 1997). 247 pp., $38.00 Can. Some years ago George Epp promised a two-volume work on Mennonites in Russia The11 it appeared that three voltunes would be needed to cover the Mennonite experience in Russia. This is the first vol~une. Epp always had tlie Allssiecllel* in (Germany in mind as his primary reader target, hence the use of the Gcrlnan language and the smaller voliune size. It was probably a wise decision both ways. The price may be a factor, of course, which could discourage access by readers somewhat, in Germany, North America or elsewhere. People familiar with the Russian Mennonite story inay have hoped for more new data in a new history. For Gennan-language readers (and indeed for others) a lot of material will in fact be new. Did you know that Jacob I-Ioeppner's expulsion from his congregation led to his becoming the first registered Mennonite resident of Alexandrovsk, and that his Ukrainian neigl~bo~u-s sought to alleviate 111s financial distress in numerous ways? For those who really do not know the stor!{ at all, as is the case with Inany Aussiedler, it will be an excellent introduction to the subject. Several things are noticeable at once. The broad contextual approacll is laudable. There is a discussion of European and especially Pnlssian history of the eighteenth century. There is reference to the I-Iutterites who helped to set some patterns for Mennonite emigration. And socio-political factors, sucli as the phenomenon of the larger German emigration of the time, and the ramifications oftlie ongoing threat of fi~rther conflict with tlie Turks, are told here, but are not always included in other works. As an lilstorian able to read Russian well, Epp was able to incorporate the works of earlier Russian historians like Piserevksii and Stach to good advan- tage, along with other Russian language sources (such as the P J. Braun archives from Odessa) which few western scholars have really brought into the picture until now. Some readers will be interested to see the significant role attributed to Book Reviwvs 2.i 1 Samuel Kontenius i n getting the new Mennonite colonists on a sound financial footing. His contacts with the Senate are illuminated inore clearly than in other worlcs. These same readers may wonder why the worlts of Johann Cornies are not stressed more (the book includes the period up to 1850), while those of Claas Wiens are given inore prominence, although even Wiens' contribution could have seen greater elaboration. The assessment of the relative contributions of the non -Mennonite directors appointed by the Russian goveanlnent is viewed as a crucial factor in sizing up the achievements ofthc first settlers. Tlne itnplication is that here is another theme that merits even lnorc research than has been attempted in this s~u-vey. Statistical data related to the founding ofthe first villages helps to sketch the settlement situation clearly, and specific attention to the development of religious life, especially the selection of church leaders provides the larger view of community development often missed by earlier accounts. The Klaas Reimer-related schism gets its rightful place, and the hostilities between leaders like Jacob E m s and Claas Wiens receive an objective treat- ment. There is probably still rooin to write a focused non no graph on the Russtan Mennonites as a church community throughout the entire period of Russian settlement. There are some typos, as in most pu~blicalions (reference to 191 9 on pp. 163 and 212 are both in fact to 1819), and the bibliographical oinission of J a m s Urry's work on Russian Mennonites will pres~unably be rectified in the next vol~une. The reference to the Berdianslc region (p. 88, line 4) is no doubt to Berislav. The type font of the appendices and indexes seeins needlessly large, detracting sornewhat froin the otherwise pleasant fonnal and actually very readable quality of the text (even for seniors). Volume I1 is projected for publication this spring , while the third voliunc (closing with the Revolution of 191 7 ) will require some time to complete. It will be a welcome close to the trilogy which is now well underway; and a fitting tribute to the strong interest Dr. Epp always had in the Russian Mennonite story. Lawrence Klippenstein Mennonite Heritage Centre Winnipeg 252 Jounlol ol'Metlt~ot~ite Studies David Ewert, Honotlr Stlch People (Winnipeg, Manitoba: Centre for Mennonite B,rethren Studies, 1997). Paperback, 140 pp., $14.95 Cdn. In this book, New Testament scholar and cl~uuchman David Ewert, pursues his interest in Mennonite Brethren biography. Having written a biograplly of A. H. Unmh (Stul~iart for the Trzitk, 1975) and his own autobiography (Journejj of' Faith, 1993), Ewert now offers a series of eight biographical sketches in the spirit of Paul's adlnonltion that the Philippians sho~11d l l o n o ~ r their leaders (Philippians 2:29). The eight Inen Ewerl has singled out for attention are chosen for reasons personal to hiinself, giving the reader a fuuther glimpse into Ewert's own place among the array of Mennonite Brethren leadership at mid-century. All were Bible teachers and colleagues of Ewert in various Mennonite Brethren schools duuring his own scllolarly and teaching ministry, Representing as they do the period from 1920 to 1970, all but one are Russian-born, placing them in the generation of leaders that served the Mennonite Brethren Climcli and beyond in the aftermath of the 1920s migration of Mennonites to Canada and its attendant assiinilation into Canadian society. In offering these sltetcl~es as candid personal tributes to his teachers, colleagues and friends, it is obvious that for Ewert this book is a respectful, well- researched, journey into his own reminiscences. Still, Ewert has an eye on the future as well, hoping his book will also sellre to introduce these leaders to the youth of today. In this, Ewert's hopes are well-placed. Abrahain H. Unrudl ( 196 1 ), Cornclius Wall (1985), IIenry I-I. Janzen ( 19751, Bernllard W. Sawatslcy ( 1974), John A Toews (1979), Jacob 11. Franz (1978), Jacob I-I. Quiring, and Frank C. Peters ( 1987) will be reineinbered by Inany Mennonites in Canada as l ~ o ~ ~ s e l ~ o l d naines at mid-century, but Ewert's younger readers will find this book to be a winsome introduction to a generation of leaders they never knew. Employing a readily accessible narrative style, Ewert uses just under twenty pages as he places each subject within the Mennonite family, traces their story a l n ~ d numerous anecdotes and, in inany instances, offers appreciative, but not altogether nncritical, perspectives on their accomplislunents and contributions. The portraits drawn in this book exhibit the shades of nuance and telling detail available only through the eye of a fellow sojourner. The appeal of Ewert's book for those who Itnew and appreciated these leaders and teachers as Ewert does is obvious These portraits, however, also offer the inore detached reader a ready store of information and potential insight into the circumstances, challenges, opportunities and attitudes that shaped a generation of Mennonite B r e t l ~ e n leadership. Generally unencumbered by analysis, but ably presented in the natural stream of experience, one encounters diinensions of the Canadian Mennonite story such as the Russian Mennonite experience, the realities of iininigrant life, the sensitive interplay of family relationships, and the stresses and challenges of ministry in congregational and conference-related contexts. At the appropriate time, i t will be interesting to use Ewert's sketches as a basis Book Revimvs 253 for comparing Mennonite Bretluen C h ~ u c h leaders of his generation with those of today. Gerald C. Ediger Concord College Winnipeg John Friesen, Field of Broken Dreams: Mennonite Settlement in Seminole, West Texas (Winnipeg: self published, 996). This 48 page account, 20 pages of which comprise the main text, is a worthwhile contribution to the documentation of the dynamics of the social and economic driving forces operating withindhe framework of Mexican Mennonite colonization ventmes. In Inany ways, to appropriate a frequently repeated redundancy attribute, I believe, to baseball player Yogi Berra, it's "a case of dija vu all over again." Like other Mennonite colonization attempts, the West Texas venture was rooted in the rigidity of institutions and traditions which, in the face 01 increasingly severe shortages of land, failed to legitimize and promote intellectual, social and econolnic outreach and expansion into an otherwise beclconing range of non- agrarian endeavors. The Seminole story therefore recapitulates a recurring reality: people thwarted by arbitrary institutional curtailments on lifestyle and opportunity and desperate to improve on conditions for which they perceive no remedy at home, collectively embark on ventmes pre-programmed for misad- venture. Lacking education and experience, they readily accept the leadership of persuasive, ambitious persons equally lacking in education and experience. They altogether too readily accept the offhand assurances ofpromoters, lawyers and politicians in respect to real estate transactions and the particulars of admissibility to, and fi~ture civil status in, another country. Contracts are entered into, based upon unrealistic projections of committed participat~on by "inter- ested" individuals "back home." Doctrinal differences, however minor, are assiduonsly maintained between and among the intending migrants. The ven- ture therefore dissolves into a number of separate thrusts. The potential Sinanc- ing is thus diluted, as are the prospects for satisfying the conditions for legal immigration. As successive difficulties are encountered, intending migrants increasingly withhold their capital commitment, and the venture ilnplodes or has to be drastically revised. Its autl~orslleaders Sorsalte it tl~emselves or are set aside. The leaderless and largely destitute group of those already irrevocably committed then readily accepts other "leadership," and further misadventures ensue. Ultimately pity and co~npassion on the part of higher authority (state and federal government) and outside agencies (M.C.C. ) achieve a narrow rescue for 2-54 Jou1.11a1 of Metztzo~~ite Studies the s~iwivors, who gradually accommodate and adopt to realities over whose structuring they never had any significant control. The Seminole experience deserves comparison with comparable Mennonite colonization efforts in the twentieth cent~lry, in which the Luge to escape "intolerable" conditions at home led to incompetently-led, badly-researched internationallintercontinental colonization ventures. Some were total fiascoes. Those which survived, not infrequently after having been abandoned by those whose means permitted retreat, and sometimes by their religious leaders, are testaments to the resilience and adaptability of the desperate and the destitute for whom no option remained except to "stick it out." John Friesen's Field of' Broken Dreams renders a tangible contribution to the documentation of Menno- nite colonization history and geography. It is to be hoped that others who, as he did, encounter the opportunity in the context of voluntary service, will be stimulated to follow lfis example. H. L. Sawatzky Department of Geography University of Manitoba Rudy P. Friesen, with Sergey Shamakin, Into the Past, Btlildings of the Menlvlonite Common~lealth (Winnipeg: Raduga Publications, 1996). Soft cover, 352 pp., index. $34.99. Recently Mennonite historiography has talcen a n~unber of interesting twists and turns. Originally much history was documented by ministers, of course empl~asizing tl~eological developments. But particularly after the recovery of the Anabaptist vision, historians participated from their well padded office chairs. Now a new breed is demonstrating that what really happened may be much more complex, and perhaps better understood by those who have exper- tise in a wlde range of specific fields. James Urry has brought not only the viewpoint of an outsider (a very well informed outsider), but also his anthropological training. Jolm Friesen has loolced at some regions tluough the eyes of a land-use specialist-not inappro- priate, considering that the predominant occupation of Mennonites was farm- ing. Now iin architect has joined the fray on the supposition that "Buildings are an expression of the people who built them. They can tell us a great deal about the society that was responsible for their creation." Rudy Friesen, an architect living and practicing his profession in Winnipeg, has photographed, obtained the plans of and studiedmany of the buildings of the Mennonite colonies of the former Soviet Union. The essence of, and probably the ttnique contribution to M e ~ o n i t e historiography of this book 1s best summed up in his own introduction: "Today little is left of the Mennonite Commonwealth in Russia, but many buildings still remain. They tell us about a people that went from modest agrarian beginnings, relatively isolated from the society around them, to considerable wealth, pride and significant involvement in society." The book begins with a brief outline of AnabaptistIMennonite Illstory, followed by a general analysis o'f buildings and their meaning as relating to this history. In collaboration with Sergey Shalnakin of Zaporoshye (Ukraine), local photographer P. Reitsin and architect P. Tuukovsky, Friesen surveys a n~unber of former Mennonite colonies-Chortitza, Yazylcovo, Baratow and Schlachtin, Molotschna, Zagradovka and the Crimea. Each village survey begins with a brief history, often with an excellent map, and then continues with photographs and descriptions of the varCious buildings in the area. Architecttual plans are often included, and so too are advertisements from publications ofthe time. A number of cemeteries have been studied; the names and dates gathered from the gravestones should help people find the linal resting places of some of their ancestors. Finally, tile appendices includc a useful list of infonnation sources and a good index. Rudy Friesen has added much valuable information to the lanowledge base of those who wish to study the "Mennonite Commonwealtl~" of Russia. This is, ofcomse, of great interest to those who travel to find their roots or those of their parents or grandparents. In the broader scope the documentation ancl analysis is also an important for Russian Mennonite history in general. Helmut T. Huebert Winnipeg, Manitoba Rachel Waltner Goossen, Women Against the Good WOF. (Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1997). Paper, 1 80 pp. American women who held pacifist convictions during World War I1 experienced the war differently, both from the men who claimed religious exemption from it and and from non-pacifist women who maintained "the homc front." In Women Against the Good War Rachel Waltner Goossen, history professor at Goshen College, examines the experiences of those women who duuing World War I1 were associated with Civilian Public Service, a program designed by the American government to offer alternatives to war service. From 194 1 to 1947, approxi~nately 2000 women's lives intersected with this program, ancl thcir contribution to it was considerable. Some of their stories appeared in thc Vfol~ren 's Concerns Reporl (#116, Sept.1 Oct. 1994). This issue centred around the theme "Women and Civilian Public Service," and was co~npiled by Rachel Waltncr Goossen. As a Canadian who had heard only Canadian men's CO stories, I read the issue with interest. In the first two chapters of Wo~izen Against tlze Good War, the author provides the background for her study by outlining the federal government's conscription policics and its launching of the CPS, administered jointly by Mennonites, Brctluen and Friends, the historic peace churches with which most CPS worlcers were affiliated. She illustrates the cultural attitudes in the 1940s and what i t meant to be pacifist at a time when patriotism, and the law, cle~nandcd support ofa war that was popular. Ironically, the war-rejecting yotmgpeople she writes about generally conformed to the patriarchal co~ninunities they came from, but in the larger, war-dominated context they became radical non- conformists. Chaptcrs 4 and 5 deal with the rolesplayed by wives and friends ofCPSers as well as by professional wolnen who were pacifist during the war. For them, as for their non-pacifist sisters, the war meant new sacrifices, but also opport~ni- ties to travel (though CPSers did not travel abroad), to earn lnoney outside the horne, to be financially autonomous, ancl to experience something of the world. Goossen describes the l i k of camp followers, those woinen who left home to be with husbands or friends in, or near, CPS camps; who shared in the harassment meted out to COs; who raised children inhostile settings without the public and govcrnlncnt support given to wives of servicemen. Professional women were recruited to work as matrons, dieticians and nurses-all traditional women's roles~--in camps established by CPS. Chapter 5 details the experience of college agc pacifist women who wanted to do inore than si~iiply discuss post-war relief and rcconstnlction. They looked for direct involve~nent in CPS. Such involvement becaine available in 1943 when coeducational relief training schools were launched at Mennonite, Breth- ren and Friends colleges, and when woinen were accepted for service in state mental institutions, s o ~ n e t i ~ n e s in all-women's CPS units, often with hostile staff. In these settings young women could test their convictions and gain self- knowledge. In the introduction, Goossen quotes Elisc Boulding, sociologist and peace scholar: "I reinember feeling [diuing World War 11] like many woinen did, that I wished I were a lnan so that my conscientious objection could be recorded." In chapter 6, Lhe author quotes a former CPS dietician who, fifty years after the war, said: "I had never been asked about my experience." With this book, Goossen aclcnowledges and analyzes the participation and contribution of these women. EIowever, she is interested not only in how they experienced the war, but also in how that experience influenced their thinking about gcnder and conscientious objection, and subsequently affected their post war choices and actions. Book Reviews -7.5 7 Conclusions are not startling, but significant neverlheless CO women's experience of war was determined not--as was the case for WWZ suffagettes and feminists during the Vietnam war-by gender concerns or political activ- ism, but by pacifist convictions and by a willingness to serve their country through significant, huunanitarian work. Both motives were nurtured in the patriarchal communities they came firan. These women did not intent~onally ,challenge gender roles. Nevertheless, their experience in the work farce, and as partners with the men, pushed sufficiently at patriarchal structures.todter their expectations with respect to gender roles and marital equality. When the war ended, many remained in the labour 'force. Some, along with the men, found sewice opportunities abroad in the wark of post-war moonstmction. Of those who slipped quietly into traditional roles many 'became, as a result of their experiences, promoters of non-resistance and humanitarian endeaiwms. Their influence helped nuztm-eaan-resistance in the next generation. Although many of thesewomen criticized the CPS for its shortcomings,~continuad,a~aehment to it is evidenced in reunions and letters. The material in this book is presented in a coherent, well-organized fasluon and illustrated with brief personal stmies or comments, and photos. Goossen's sources include archivalmaterial and an impressive range of post-war literature on topics of war and war resistance. In addition, she has conducted oral interviews with 27 former CPS women and sent questionnaires to 229 more, of whom 153 responded. These primary sources, ,capably~employed by Phe author, lend freshness to theaext. Women Against the Good War, researelled rortunately while there are still CPSers able to respond to quesldonnaires, comes at a time when few of us feel obliged to think seriously a b o a conscription, I found this book engaging and highly informative. i t will prove a valuable resource for stutdents, provide enrichment for laypersons, old o r young, and perhaps it will also stimulate readers, inale or female, to examine their convictions with regard $0 war and gender. I can't help wondering if sufficient stories, uncovered in the author's research, are somewhere wai#ing to be collected, with inore personal details than this book allows, into another volume? Sarah Klassen Winnipeg, Manitoba Marvin E. Kroeker, Comanches and Mennonites on the OtlcZalzor?za Plains (Winnipeg: Kindred Press, 1997). Releasing this paperback is a venture as courageous as i t is precarious. Marvin IGoeker and Kindred Press deserve credit for bringing rorward the 258 Joorttal o/'~We~t~tortite Studies findings of a cent~uy of Mennonite missions amidst the Comanche peoples of southwestern Ol