Book reviews

The following books are reviewed.

Men of letters, writing lives: masculinity and literary auto/biography in the late victorian period TREV LYNN BROUGHTON, 1999 London: Routledge. 213 pp., ISBN 0 415 08211 0 hardback, £60.00 0 415 08212 9 paperback, £19.99

Adapting to Capitalism: working women in the English economy, 1700–1850 PAMELA SHARPE, 1996, 2000 London: Macmillan. xi + 226 pp., ISBN 0 333 91901 7

Women, Gender and Industrialisation in England, 1700–1870 KATRINA HONEYMAN, 2000 London: Macmillan. vii + 204 pp., £15.50

Breadwinning: New Zealand women and the state MELANIE NOLAN, 2000 Christchurch: Canterbury University Press. 386 pp., ISBN 0 908812 97 3, NZ$39.95

Working-class Culture, Women and Britain, 1914–1921 CLAIRE A. CULLERTON, 2000 London: Macmillan. xii + 221 pp., ISBN 0 333 91290 X

Austerity in Britain: rationing, controls, and consumption 1939–1955 INA ZWEINIGER-BARGIELOWSKA, 2000 Oxford: Oxford University Press. xiii + 286 pp., ISBN 0 19 820453 1, £40.00

Seeing History: public history in Britain now HILDA KEAN, PAUL MARTIN, SALLY J. MORGAN (Eds), 2000 London: Francis Boutle. 193 pp., ISBN 0 9532388 9 X, paperback, £10.00

Migrant Daughter: coming of age as a Mexican American woman FRANCES ESQUIBEL TYWONIAK & MARIO T. GARCIA, 2000 Berkeley: University of California Press. 237 pp., ISBN 0 526 21915 5

The Matriarchs of England's Co-operative Movement: a study in gender politics and female leadership, 1883–1921 BARBARA J. BLASZAK, 2000 London, Greenwood Press. ix + 209 pp., ISBN 0 313 30995 7

Dirt and Desire: reconstructing Southern women's writing, 1930–1990 PAULINE YAEGER, 2000 Chicago: University of Chicago Press. xvii+324 pp., ISBN 0 226 94491 3 paperback, £12.53     

New Labour's PPI Reforms: Patient and Public Involvement in Healthcare Governance?

Following a first wave of reform at the beginning of the decade, the system of patient and public involvement in healthcare governance is being further overhauled under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 and the Health and Social Care Act 2008. The current reforms reflect a significant shift in dominant political discourse from an earlier concern with patient and public involvement towards a more exclusive focus on consumer choice and economic regulation, with collective voice and citizen participation at best playing a subordinate part in the government's NHS modernisation agenda. While there is some potential for increased responsiveness in the new arrangements, the overall effect is likely to be a weakening of the foundations of democratic decision making in the governance of healthcare in England.     

A fresh scientific look at transfer and persistence: From a materials science and tribology perspective

Knowledge of the mechanisms governing transfer, persistence, and recovery of trace evidence, together with background prevalence in the population of interest, and other task relevant information, is key for the forensic interpretation and reconstruction of what happened at the activity level. Up to now, this informational “toolkit” has largely been developed through empirical forensic studies on specific trace materials such as glass, textile fibers, and soil. Combined with the identified systemic siloing between disciplines, while valuable, such research tends to be very material-dependent, introducing specific parameters and interpretations that may have actually impeded the recognition of underlying foundational factors applicable to most material types. In Australia, there has been a renewed interest in developing a discipline-independent framework for the interpretation and/or reconstruction of trace evidence to interpret specific circumstances in casework. In this paper, we present a discipline agnostic “way of thinking” that has been anchored in foundational science underpinning the trace evidence discipline. Physical and mechanical material properties such as material geometry and surface topography, strength, stiffness, and hardness collectively influence contact interactions through underlying friction, wear, and lubrication cause and effect mechanisms. We discuss how these fundamental factors and parameters stemming from materials science and tribology may be adopted and adapted by forensic practitioners and researchers to contribute to a better understanding of transfer, persistence, and recovery mechanisms irrespective of evidence discipline and material type. Examples are provided to demonstrate the practical significance to real-life casework and academic research.     

Staging race: Florence Mills,celebrity, identity and performance in 1920s Britain

This article focuses on the time the African American performer Florence Mills spent in Britain in the 1920s. Mills was one of the most popular performers of the period, taking a lead in African American vaudeville productions, she was admired by working class and ‘elite’ black and white audiences. Our paper examines four examples of Mills’ British fan mail alongside newspaper reports of her performances in London. These reveal complex themes of identity, of Britishness, sexuality, gender and class within the context of changing international understandings of race relations in the Inter-war period. We utilise these letters alongside newspaper reports to consider how Mills’ presence in Britain as a performer and anti-racist activist influenced debates and personal reflections on racial identity, sexual desire and belonging to Britain.     

Continuity in Primary School Children’s Eating Problems and the Influence of Parental Feeding Strategies

Eating problems are highly prevalent and seem to show continuity in children. Nevertheless, the effect of different maternal and paternal feeding practices on changes in these problems is not fully understood yet. This study examines short-term continuity in primary school children’s overeating, loss of control (over eating), restraint and concerns (about eating, body shape and weight) and the predictive value of parental feeding strategies on change in these eating problems. Children (8–12 years, n = 613, 46.5 % girls) completed the Child Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (ChEDE-Q) twice with the second measurement (T2) taking place 6 months after the first (T1). Parents (n = 714, 57.7 % mothers) completed the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) at T1 to assess the level of controlling feeding strategies. More overeating, restraint and concerns at T1 predicted higher levels of the same eating problems 6 months later, whereas more of loss of control at T1 predicted lower levels of loss of control 6 months later. Additionally, the interaction between maternal pressure and the gender of the child was predictive for increases in overeating, whereas the interaction between paternal monitoring and gender of the child was a marginally significant predictor for decreases in overeating. These findings point to the possible negative and positive effects of parental feeding practices as well as to the possible larger influence of mothers on their daughters’ and of fathers on their sons’ eating behaviors. The importance of studying mothers and fathers, as well as daughters and sons, and of including different feeding strategies and eating problems is discussed.     

Longitudinal Dynamics of Depressogenic Personality and Attachment Dimensions in Adolescence: An Examination of Associations with Changes in Depressive Symptoms

Depressogenic personality and attachment are two major factors related to the development of adolescents’ depressive symptoms. However, no previous longitudinal studies have examined simultaneously both vulnerability factors in relationship to depressive symptoms. The present study examined associations between intra-individual change in adolescents’ depressogenic personality orientations (i.e., sociotropy and autonomy), dimensions of mother–adolescent attachment (i.e., anxiety and avoidance), and depressive symptoms. The sample of the present research consisted of 289 high school students (mean age = 12.51 years at Time 1, 66 % female) participating in a 3-wave cohort-sequential design. Latent growth curve modeling revealed no significant intra-individual change in depressogenic personality orientations but significant changes in dimensions of attachment and symptoms of depression. Initial levels of sociotropy were not related significantly to changes in attachment dimensions and depressive symptoms. High initial levels of autonomy were associated with increases in attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and depressive symptoms. In addition, results suggested that the association between initial levels of autonomy and increases in depressive symptoms was mediated by increases in attachment anxiety and avoidance. The discussion focuses on the status of depressogenic personality and attachment as risk factors for depression.