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Title: Breaking Out : VMI and the Coming of Women by Laura Fairchild Brodie ISBN: 0-375-70581-3 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 15 May, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.38 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: In the finest tradition of New Market!
Comment: This fine book should appeal to two audiences. #1-Those people interested in VMI, and #2-those more interested in "process". VMI's response to court-ordered assimilation of women into the last male military bastion in America makes fascinating reading. In either case, you have to get by what most be one of the most bizzare covers in the world. At best, it is a clumsy victory of form over substance, and at worse a small-minded negative comment on a very positive book. e.g. Blades of bayonets have been airbrushed out, but the hilts remain on the ends of the rifles! Talk about symbolism! And reminding one of the distress sign of the flag flying upside down, the cover photo is printed reversed, so that the cadets seem to be from "IMV".
Cover aside, Dr. Brodie has given a day-by-day account of women coming to VMI, beginning with the court decision: Uniforms, quarters, showers, feminine hygene, physical-education standards, dating policies, recruiting... absolutely no subject is sacred. The behind-the-scenes hero is the superintendant, General Bunting - certainly the right person at the right time.. But the real heroes are the men and women of the cadet corps who "made it work."
Most people who live outside of Virginia and who are not Civil War buffs don't realize that the defining moment of VMI came that terrible May afternoon in 1864 at the battle of New Market. Worn down by superior Union forces after hours of fighting, General John C. Breckinridge, CSA gave the command "Put the boys in, and may God forgive me for the order." The cadet corps, many only 14 years old, marched into the fire of the Federal artillery and carried the day. BREAKING OUT is a contemporary reminder that it is the spirit of the men and now women cadets of Virginia Military Institute who can be counted on to carry the day.
Rating: 1
Summary: Simply trying to make a buck
Comment: I am a recent graduate of VMI(class of 2000) and I experienced the events covered by the book first hand. I had the fortunate opportunity of being able to experience the corps when it was all-male and then see the transition, so I have a little credibility on the subject. I find Mrs. Brodie's book to be a good example of an outsider's view of a complex, obtuse and guarded military society. She writes of accounts where she portrays the corps of cadets as a whole as knuckle dragging misogynists in a very derogatory way, while making the females out to be some sort of crusader. My main point is this, the wife of the Band Leader (who by the way did not attend VMI either) wrote a book about her outsider's view of what she sees as a black and white story simply to monopolize on the destruction of one of the country's most coveted traditions, the southern all male military school.
Rating: 2
Summary: A big "apology" for a school hopelessly out of touch
Comment: While Brodie's book is well written and quite enjoyable to read I do not agree with her conclusions or observations. In essence, this book is a, like a previous reviewer wrote, a PR coup for VMI. Acts of violence and unethical behavior is played down by Brodie as "cadets just messing around and having a good time".
Although Brodie mentions some of the more conservative alumni and their opinions they are not discussed or observed in a very rational fashion. The comments made by alumni that "women should not come to VMI", or "Women who wants to be part of VMI should marry a VMI man" are not seen as examples of a view of society that is lagging behind. It is instead seen by Brodie as a charming antic from the South.
If one wants a more balanced and academic account of VMI going co-ed one should read "Women in the Barracks" instead.
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Title: In the Company of Men: A Woman at the Citadel by Nancy Mace, Mary Jane Ross ISBN: 0689840039 Publisher: Simon Pulse Pub. Date: 01 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Digital Diploma Mills: The Automation of Higher Education by David F. Noble ISBN: 1583670610 Publisher: Monthly Review Press Pub. Date: February, 2002 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: The University in Ruins by Bill Readings ISBN: 0674929535 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: October, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.35 |
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Title: Pasteurs Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation by Donald E. Stokes ISBN: 0815781776 Publisher: The Brookings Institution Pub. Date: September, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Women, Men, and Society (5th Edition) by Claire M. Renzetti, Daniel J. Curran ISBN: 0205335330 Publisher: Pearson Allyn & Bacon Pub. Date: 30 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $61.20 |
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