Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Mothers of Heroes, Mothers of Martyrs: World War I and the Politics of Grief

Mothers of Heroes, Mothers of Martyrs: World War I and the Politics of Grief

Evans, Suzanne

Hardcover

Women's Studies

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 0773531882
ISBN13: 9780773531888
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Published: Feb 9 2007
Pages: 224
Weight: 1.06
Height: 0.73 Width: 6.38 Depth: 9.22
Language: English

Maternal love is considered the most unconditional form of love, yet mothers have been prepared to sacrifice their children, or to see them sacrificed, for a noble cause. Mothers of Heroes, Mothers of Martyrs shows that, across cultures and historical eras, in times of great stress societies will channel all their resources, even maternal love and grief, toward a common cause.

Suzanne Evans finds commonalities between the many images of war mothers - the Canadian Silver Cross mother, the ancient Jewish Maccabean mother of seven martyred sons, the mother of a Palestinian suicide bomber. She compares the lore about mothers of martyrs in the Judeo-Christian, Muslim, and Sikh traditions with stories of World War I Canadian mothers who were depicted in the media as having sacrificed their sons for the sake of civilization, justice, freedom, and God. After the war these mothers were honoured with the Silver Cross medal. Evans argues that, like the mothers of past martyrs, the image of the war-supportive mother in Canada had a powerful influence over public opinion and drew supporters to the cause.

I remember as a young mother looking at a picture of a Palestinian woman who had just lost her child to martyrdom but was smiling with a serene pride. This was the first time I had come across the phrases mother of martyr or Intifada smile.

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