The Persian Gulf War changed the face of combat. It brought women's military roles into the spotlight, in large part via the mass media, and showed that many women performed combat roles similar to those of men during the conflict. The war was thus an impetus for changes in laws that had prevented women from serving in combat assignments. In past centuries, because it was not culturally acceptable for women to serve in combat, surprising numbers joined secretly under assumed male names. After defining exactly what is meant by "war" and "combat," this work presents historical and present-day views of the involvement of women in the military. The impact of regulations on women in combat is analyzed, as is the role of the American public in the controversy. Female combat is put into context with sociological theory; also discussed are readiness, cohesion, ability, sexuality, equal opportunity and family issues. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

What with the recent war in Kosovo and the Gulf War of several years ago, it would seem timely to explore the questions of women's place in modern warfare. The two above captioned books attempt to do this. Neither book, however, is completely successful. Skaine's book is a history of women's participation in warfare. She explores the objections to women in combat and concludes that women are now an important and effective part of the military. Many of the people she quotes and the sources on which she relies are themselves part of the military. D'Amico and Weinstein follow a similar path in Gender Camouflage, although they rely on a collection of military people and more traditional academics. Indeed, Weinstein is a former military wife, while D'Amico is more a traditional academic scholar. Both books are written from a perspective that welcomes women's participation in the military, which means that certain branches of the feminist movement will not find either work congenial. Accepting the premise that women's military participation is a good thing, the Skaine book is a solid enough history, although it could benefit from a larger theoretical perspective. D'Amico and Weinstein struggle with the problem nearly all edited collections face: an unevenness in the quality of the work. Both books are likely to have greater appeal to general readers than to academic audiences. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.