| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 112.5

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the AHR online. About 301 words from this article are provided below; about 558 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the American Historical Association, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time. AHA members can go to the AHA individual membership section to locate their member numbers.
If you are not a member of the American Historical Association, you can:: • Join the AHA and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the American Historical Review.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the American Historical Review (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the American Historical Review.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 112.5 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Comparative/World

Erica B. Simmons. Hadassah and the Zionist Project. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield. 2006. Pp. x, 241. Cloth $75.00, paper $24.95.

This book by Erica B. Simmons is a competent addition to the historiography on Jewish national settlement in Palestine and the State of Israel, exploring the aims and achievements of the preeminent American women's Zionist organization. It particularly complements the superb study of Mary McCune on Zionist and Bundist women in the United States (2005), Marcella Simoni's scholarship on public health in mandate Palestine (1999), and Derek Penslar's outstanding treatment of Israel in comparative perspective (2007). The strength of Simmons's approach is the breadth of her survey, from Hadassah's origins as a small study circle to its current incarnation as an international, formidable nongovernmental body, as well as a continuing fount of vital health, education, and social welfare provision in Israel. There are a number of sharp insights in this work, above all Simmons's recognition that Hadassah's development as a separate sphere for diaspora women's initiative was more a consequence of their marginality, as opposed to empowerment—despite the rhetoric of inclusion and equal status of women in the Zionist movement and Israel (p. 94). Her overarching thesis that Hadassah comprised and nurtured "a synthesis of Progressive maternalist and Zionist ideals" (pp. 2–3) as a distinctly American "civilizing" mission (p. 58) is convincing, and she is sensitive to the pressure on the organization to attain results that would be especially conducive to further fundraising (p. 75). Moreover, Simmons is not averse to disclosing that Hadassah was compelled to ameliorate a number of health and social problems, such as malnutrition (p. 61) and juvenile delinquency (pp. 37–39), which many assumed would be automatically overcome by the inception of Jewish national settlement in the land of Israel.

. . .

There are about 558 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.