Overview

Full Product Details

9781409429692

Table of Contents

Reviews

'... Caldwell's book deserves a wide audience... The book highlights the pervasive misuse of gender by an overbearing, male-dominated institution and the social science research that validates it. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Most levels/libraries.' Choice 'I will never forget this book. The topic, is of course, frightful, horrific, and memorable. Yet unlike the many attorneys and journalists who have tracked down the Abu Ghraib story, Ryan Ashley Caldwell brings a unique perspective to these materials. Her lens is complex as she brings many perspectives to her topic - human rights and justice, ethics, politics. What is unique is her analysis of gendering and gender. Powerful. Unique. A remarkable contribution.' Judith Blau, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA 'Herein, a searing indictment of noxious assumptions, stereotypes, labels, all at work in the interest of a cover-up. Ryan Caldwell, rotating philosophical, sociological and political insights to the ghastly events at Abu Ghraib, makes it clear that we have been duped as to who is responsible. Will anyone listen?' John J. McDermott, Texas A&M University, USA 'Caldwell's position is clear from the start: she defines herself as a cultural theorist and feminist philosopher. She is also partisan: she was a researcher for the defence, ate meals with the defendants, attended the trials of Lynndie England and Harman, and spoke to numerous attorneys, relatives and friends. However, much of the evidence and arguments she presents are persuasive, and, in an effort to forestall any doubts, she reproduces lengthy transcripts of court testimonies and interviews. The result is a robust condemnation of the treatment of the seven rotten apples from a theoretical as well as a pragmatic perspective. Some of it makes disconcerting reading... Fallgirls is a provocative contribution to the debates about Abu Ghraib and US-led torture in the War on Terror... it opens up the debate to some new and exciting ideas about the nature of gendered violence. It is well worth reading.' Times Higher Education 'As a project located at what Caldwell terms an intersection of sociology, social and cultural theory, women's studies, and critical theory, she attends most artfully to debates within the sociology of gender... The complex gender analysis eruditely crafted by Caldwell inaugurates what will hopefully become a series of critical analyses of this brutally orchestrated violence.' societieswithoutborders 'Drawing on a wide range of diverse theories, first-hand observation and court documents, Caldwell provides a theoretically rigorous, critical interpretation of Abu Ghraib that highlights the importance of considering gender and power in an analysis of the prisoner abuse at the hands of the U.S. military... This book clearly demonstrates the value of using classical and modern social theories to understand and frame contemporary social issues. As such, it is a valuable addition to feminist and gender scholarship, and can also be appreciated by scholars and advanced students of social theory.' Contemporary Sociology '... some original ideas about the relationship between gender, torture and abuse. In particular, I enjoyed Caldwell's discussion of chaos, modernity and rationality... amid accounts depicting the women as sexual sadists, this book offers clarification of the precise role played by Lynndie England and Sabrina Harman in the abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners...' Crime Media Culture

'... Caldwell's book deserves a wide audience... The book highlights the pervasive misuse of gender by an overbearing, male-dominated institution and the social science research that validates it. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Most levels/libraries.' Choice 'I will never forget this book. The topic, is of course, frightful, horrific, and memorable. Yet unlike the many attorneys and journalists who have tracked down the Abu Ghraib story, Ryan Ashley Caldwell brings a unique perspective to these materials. Her lens is complex as she brings many perspectives to her topic - human rights and justice, ethics, politics. What is unique is her analysis of gendering and gender. Powerful. Unique. A remarkable contribution.' Judith Blau, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA 'Herein, a searing indictment of noxious assumptions, stereotypes, labels, all at work in the interest of a cover-up. Ryan Caldwell, rotating philosophical, sociological and political insights to the ghastly events at Abu Ghraib, makes it clear that we have been duped as to who is responsible. Will anyone listen?' John J. McDermott, Texas A&M University, USA 'Caldwell's position is clear from the start: she defines herself as a cultural theorist and feminist philosopher. She is also partisan: she was a researcher for the defence, ate meals with the defendants, attended the trials of Lynndie England and Harman, and spoke to numerous attorneys, relatives and friends. However, much of the evidence and arguments she presents are persuasive, and, in an effort to forestall any doubts, she reproduces lengthy transcripts of court testimonies and interviews. The result is a robust condemnation of the treatment of the seven rotten apples from a theoretical as well as a pragmatic perspective. Some of it makes disconcerting reading... Fallgirls is a provocative contribution to the debates about Abu Ghraib and US-led torture in the War on Terror... it opens up the debate to some new and exciting ide

Author Information

Ryan Ashley Caldwell is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Soka University of America, USA

Tab Content 6

Countries Available