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H-NET WEBPAGE REVIEW Published by H-Survey (January 2004) Jewish Women's Archive. "JWA - Emma Goldman - Overview." <http://www.jwa.org/exhibits/wov/goldman/index.html> Reviewed for H-Survey by Judy Kutulas, (kutulas@stolaf.edu) Department of History, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN This site, part of the Jewish Women's Archive's Women of Valor exhibit series, is designed in conjunction with the Emma Goldman papers. Goldman's life intersects many aspects of history, as she was an immigrant, an advocate of free love, a promoter of birth control, and an anarchist. She has long been a popular subject of biographies. This site incorporates aspects of all of these Goldman subtexts. The site is well designed and easily navigable. Each page contains citation information and each image has source information and a print option. Names, movements, and other important historical features are clickable, making it possible for those with more interest or less familiarity to follow up without disturbing the flow of the site overall. The narrative provides a basic sketch of Goldman's life and her main achievements. Concepts like anarchism, feminism (and its differences from suffrage) are well explained. The images are of varied quality. One photo of Goldman and Alexander Berkman - both decked out in leisure attire - at San Tropez is particularly wonderful, while some of the newspaper headlines and clippings don't seem to add much to story. The site does a particularly fine job of contextualizing Goldman within both the radical movement and feminism. The philosophy of anarchism is clearly explained, as it her attitudes toward violence. In the same way, Goldman's differences with the mainstream women's movement are treated with subtle detail. Missing from this site, probably intentionally, is very much about Goldman's personal life. We get only the most rudimentary sketch of her personal life. Her long-time lover and manager, Ben Reitman, simply disappears from the narrative without explanation. We read about Goldman moving from place to place, touring or living in exile, and it is impossible not to wonder: how did she live? Over the years Goldman has become a figure of legend, thanks to E. L. Doctrow's Ragtime, Warren Beatty's film Reds, and the many biographic treatments that exist of her by such authors as Alice Wexler and Alix Kate Schulman. This side of "Red Emma," her place in popular culture, is not discussed at all in this otherwise comprehensive site. This website would be useful in US survey classes and women's history classes and is suitable for both high school and college level courses. It would also be a good starting point for students doing research on Goldman. Copyright 2003 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For any other proposed use, contact the Reviews editorial staff at hbooks@mail.h-net.msu.edu. --Public reply to list: h-survey@h-net.msu.edu --Private reply to sender: See e-mail address under "From" at top of message --Manage your subscription options: http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/lists/manage.cgi --To unsubscribe send e-mail to: listserv@h-net.msu.edu with UNSUB H-SURVEY as the only text in the body of your message --To temporarily suspend your account: send e-mail to listserv@h-net.msu.edu with SET H-SURVEY NOMAIL as the only text in the body of your message. --To reactivate your account, send e-mail to listserv@h-net.msu.edu with SET H-SURVEY MAIL as the only text in the body of your message --Personal help from list moderators: s-edit@mail.h-net.msu.edu
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