In the mid-twentieth century, a grassroots movement of women-mostly white, middle-class, and conservative-sought to shape the political, cultural, and social ideologies of the baby boomers in what they perceived was a quickly changing world poisoned by communism. In Challenge and Change, June Melby Benowitz draws on a wide variety of primary sources to highlight the connections between the women of the Old Right, the New Right, and today's Tea Party. Through interviews, as well as through their letters to presidents, editors, and one another, Benowitz allows these women to speak for themselves. She examines the issues that stirred them to action-education, health, desegregation, moral corruption, war, patriotism, and the Equal Rights Amendment-and explores the development of the right-wing women's movement and its growth from the mid-twentieth into the twenty-first century.

This two-volume set examines women's contributions to religious and moral development in America, covering individual women, their faith-related organizations, and women's roles and experiences in the broader social and cultural contexts of their times. This second edition of Encyclopedia of American Women and Religion provides updated and expanded information from historians and other scholars of religion, covering new issues in religion to better describe and document women's roles within religious groups. For instance, the term "evangelical feminism" is one newly defined aspect of women's involvement in religious activism. Changes are constantly occurring within the many religious faiths and denominations in America, particularly as women strive to gain positions within religious hierarchies that previously were exclusive to men and rise within their denominations to become theologians, church leaders, and bishops. The entries examine the roles that American women have played in mainstream religious denominations, small religious sects, and non-traditional practices such as witchcraft, as well as in groups that question religious beliefs, including agnostics and atheists. A section containing primary documents gives readers a firsthand look at matters of concern to religious women and their organizations. Many of these documents are the writings of women who merit entries within the encyclopedia. Readers will gain an awareness of women's contributions to religious culture in America, from the colonial era to the present day, and better understand the many challenges that women have faced to achieve success in their religion-related endeavors. Introduces readers to hundreds of women who became leaders within various religious faiths and denominations, including many who founded religious sects and organizations Provides an understanding of women's developing roles in American religious culture, which continue to the present day Enables readers to gain an understanding of the broad range of religions, approaches to religion, and attitudes toward religion in the United States Documents how life's experiences can shape one's spiritual life and future development Includes a timeline of the issues facing women that marks changing societal attitudes and individual women's accomplishments across history

A sweeping study of the distaff side of anti-communism/anti-government conspiracy politics."-Eileen Boris, coeditor of The Practice of U.S. Women's History: Narratives, Intersections, and Dialogues "Benowitz shows how the conservative women of the 1950s helped to lay the foundation for the `New Right.'"-Mary C. Brennan, author of Pat Nixon: Embattled First Lady In the mid-twentieth century, a grassroots movement of women-mostly white, middle-class, and conservative-sought to shape the political, cultural, and social ideologies of the baby boomers in what they perceived was a quickly changing world poisoned by communism. In Challenge and Change, June Melby Benowitz draws on a wide variety of primary sources to highlight the connections between the women of the Old Right, the New Right, and today's Tea Party. Through interviews, as well as through their letters to presidents, editors, and one another, Benowitz allows these women to speak for themselves. She examines the issues that stirred them to action-education, health, desegregation, moral corruption, war, patriotism, and the Equal Rights Amendment-and explores the development of the right-wing women's movement and its growth from the mid-twentieth into the twenty-first century.

Holding fast to traditional values in the face of unprecedented economic hardship, nearly a million American women joined right-wing organizations during the Great Depression and World War II. "Days of Discontent" provides a new perspective for understanding why the far right appealed to these women, whose political self-awareness grew with the tumultuous times.
Influenced by the conventional image of women as mothers and nurturers, many women viewed the right-wing movement as a way to protect and maintain American morality. The radical right leaders, such as Elizabeth Dilling and Grace Wick, held ideas in common with European fascists but based their politics on a uniquely American mixture of nativism, anticommunism, anti-Semitism, and racism. Benowitz's insight into their motivations sheds new light on the interaction between women's daily lives and national politics.