Modern Women Modernizing Men

Terry Barringer, Centre for African Studies, Cambridge and Institute for Commonwealth Studies University of London:
Ruth Compton Brouwer, who has previously published work on Canadian women missionaries, focuses, in this volume, on three individuals, Belle Choné Oliver, doctor. Administrator and advocate for Christian medical education in India, Florence Jessie Murrary, superintendent of a Mission Hospital in Japanese ruled Korea and, of most interest to readers of ARD, Margaret Wrong. Although Brouwer does not share the faith that motivated them and though she is sometimes critical of her subjects, the attitude underlying Modern Women Modernizing Men is one of respect and enthusiasm.

Rhonda Semple, Calvin College:
Ruth Compton Brouwer has followed her previous work on women and missions in the 19th century with a meticulously researched and elegantly written book that brings the historical examination of “women’s work” into the 20th century. Brouwer examines the import of that choice for readers in as thoughtful and careful a way as she seems to think each of these women lived their lives. Her study is of great value to the modern historian and its comparative worth makes it of value well beyond Canadian missions. Brouwer’s meticulous research and notations make this a most valuable research document.

Nandi Bhatia:
Overall, Brouwer’s book is an important contribution on many levels and will appeal to a wide range of readers. It promotes an understanding of the history of missions and the specific knowledge about the role of women in these missions and their “feminist consciousness.”

Brouwer’s deep admiration for these women is evident as she writes about them.

Dana L. Robert:
A fascinating examination of missions and modernization in the late colonial period ... Brouwer upholds her usual high standard of scholarship, with meticulous research in archives, interviews, and varieties of missionary literature. I recommend this book to everyone with a serious interest in mission history.

Margo Gewurtz, Professor of Humanities and Women's Studies, York University:
The first study of women missionaries to focus on them as professionals with a strong commitment to newly emergent values of professionalism ... It is very important that studies of missions and gender move beyond the Victorian cult of domesticity as a dominant paradigm and this is one of the first studies to do so.