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April 9: Dr. Brennan to sign her book Wives, Mothers, and
the Red Menace

Dr. Mary Brennan, Associate Professor of History, will sign her new book, Wives, Mothers, and the Red Menace: Conservative Women and the Crusade Against Communism, Wednesday, April 9, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in Everette Swinney Conference Room in Taylor-Murphy Hall.  The campus community is invited.  Books will be for sale and refreshments will be served.

Brennan's book, published by the University Press of Colorado, discusses the danger to domestic security and the family that many Americans believed was posed by communism after World War II.  As a result of their fear,  millions of women expanded their notions of household responsibilities to include the crusade against communism, engaging in activities that ranged from writing letters and hosting teas to publishing books and running for political office. In the process, they discovered their power to effect change through activism.  Brennan’s book details the anti-communist activities of prominent conservatives Jean Kerr McCarthy, Margaret Chase Smith, Freda Utley, Doloris Thauwald Bridges, Elizabeth Churchill Brown, and Phyllis Stewart Schlafly, revealing how the willingness of these deeply conservative women to leave the domestic sphere and engage publicly in politics evinces the depth of America’s postwar fear of communism. Brennan argues that these women pushed the boundaries of traditional gender roles and challenged assumptions about women as political players by entering political life to publicly promote their ideals.