Customer Reviews

Breaking Out: VMI and the Coming of Women

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

From her Melvillian first sentence, "I am the band director's wife", to her final musings about the second and third years and on, Laura Brodie spins a fascinating web of anecdotes and analysis which give the reader a unique insight into the triumphs and traumas of taking a 158-year history of single-sex education and adjusting it through "minimal change" to accomodate the entrance of women into the VMI Corps of Cadets. As a participant in the process, I can vouch for the accuracy of her writing, and the fairness of her analysis. I am also fascinated by her skill as a story-teller. "Breaking Out" does not read like a dry, scholar's research paper, but like a novelist's finest creation. You won't be sorry you read it, and you will learn volumes about how and why VMI took its time with this tortuous process, determined to accomplish their unwanted mission with dignity and grace, while insuring that the immutable values of VMI were left unchanged. But Brodie is no shill for the VMI Administration ... the portrait would please Cromwell, for it shows VMI warts and all.

One egregious error greets the reader when the book is first handled. The cover dust-jacket photo has somehow had the negative reversed (the VMI cap shields read "IMV," and a VMI alumnus will note that everything is backwards from rifle position to orientation of breastplate to location of bayonet scabbard (why in the WORLD did the publisher crop the blades of the bayonets ? ) to academic stripe on wrong sleeve. Please fix this on next printing, Mr. Publisher, so we who have bought copies in this printing will have collector's items !

Ms. Brodie's handing of a very sensitive subject among VMI alumni was done as well as anyone possibly could have done it. It was written by one who was an "insider" at the Institute, which is imperative in being able to tell this story with a historical perspective. The only way it could have been done better would have been by a graduate - one who could write as clearly as Ms. Brodie does, which is one of it's greatest attributes.

I bought this book at VMI right after it was published and have read it twice, and plan to read it again many times. As a grad, I approached it with an eye open for errors and any misrepresentation of VMI tradition, and I found remarkably little of either. She did a fantastic job covering both sides of the assimilation issue. The fact that she had the backing of the Superintendent, Si Bunting, is proof enough of quality of her work. As Si's brother rat, I know him pretty well, and feel he would have balked on this work big time if he had any misgivings concerning the outcome. I have not talked to him about it, but feel certain that he would agree with the superior rating I give it. Every VMI grad should waste no time acquiring a copy and reading it, and expecting a great experience in doing so. I can't wait for Ms. Brodie's followup which I hope will pick up where this one left off. Great Work!!

I am a VMI alumnus who was a cadet at the time of assimilation (accomodation, as I call it), and someone who was, and still is, against women being at VMI, and I would have to say the Dr. Brodie's book is not bad. She covered almost all the bases and did a very good job of laying everything out on the table and telling it like it is. The book does, however, have somewhat of a sympathetic connotation towards females, and neglects to mention the many instances where double standards were used in punishments (or lack thereof) dished out by the Commandant's Office, among the many other double standards that did and do take place. Overall, though, I would say that the book paints a good picture of what it was like with minimal bias.

I give this book three stars for effort but it did not do what I wanted it to do. I was looking for a bit more detail as to life at the "I" and unfortunetly Mrs. Fairchild spent too much time concentrating on the squables between Alumni and faculty. I wanted to know what it was like to be a woman attending this institution for the first time. I also wanted to know what it was like to be a cadet at VMI.

The book is not good as Catherine Minegold's "In Glory's Shadow". Or more to the point Disher's "First Class" a fictional account of the first female class to attend Annapolis -this book covers all four years.

Like someone said this book is really not finished and I am waiting with baited breath for a "brother rat" to re-count her four years at VMI.

In Breaking Out, Laura Brodie has arranged an unlikely marriage between a can't put-it-down, page-turner of a yarn and an insider's account of a significant cultural battle of late 20th century America. Anyone who watched fascinated as Shannon Faulkner tried and failed at The Citadel will want to read this book. Brodie explains so much that is mysterious to the outsider, starting with the seemingly most intractable question: why would anyone, let alone a woman, want to endure the rigors of a Southern military academy. More importantly, Brodie shows why integration was necessary (culturally, not legally) and with insight that extends far beyond the limited venue of VMI sheds light on evolving gender norms and stereotypes in the post-feminist era. For example, in an amusing chapter discussing VMI's soul-searching over whether to allow women rats to shower in private stalls rather than in the traditional communal shower the male rates endure, Brodie illuminates the ignorance each sex has as to the other's most basic behaviours. This book is significant to anyone interested in gender politics in American, but more importantly it's fun.

Reading this book is like reading a biography of someone still alive: you know the information you're getting is incomplete. The story isn't over yet.

In this case, most (or many?) of the women who entered the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in the second half of Dr Brodie's book are graduating in 2001. The questions the author asks about how the women will fare as upper-class cadets, and how they will relate to incoming rats, male and female, in later classes can now, more or less, be answered. This isn't really a criticism of the book, but more of a hope that someday we may see another volume, or at least an updated epilogue, that addresses these questions.

It's often said, in this book and elsewhere, that nobody who hasn't been through the ratline can ever really understand VMI. To a certain extent, that may well be true. But insofar as any one who hasn't had that experience can be an insider at VMI, Dr Brodie seems to be one. Dr Brodie introduces herself by saying 'I am the band director's wife.' But she's also an accomplished academic, a Ph.D., a professor, and a self-described feminist. I was pleasantly surprised, therefore, that Dr Brodie doesn't attempt, as other academic feminists have, to describe VMI in the sociological language of male tribal ritual, primitive societies, and the like.

Dr Brodie clearly has sympathy for the women in the ratline, and the males -- cadets, faculty, and administrators -- who tried to smooth their way into the Corps. At the same time, though, her tone on the whole is not censuring toward cadets and administrators who resisted 'assimilation.' (She seems to have less patience for anti-assimilation alumni, though that may be just my interpretation.) And she is even-handed in recounting the battles VMI has had with the Justice Department and the courts.

I picked up this book less because of my specific interest in the assimilation of women than because I was interested in learning what life at VMI is (was?) like -- culture, traditions, the daily experience of the Corps. Although shedding light on those topics was not Dr Brodie's main objective, I do think I have a much clearer picture of what goes on at one of America's most historic educational institutions.

My major disappointment with this book is all the more disturbing given Dr Brodie's academic background: there is no index and no bibliography. I hope these deficiencies (plus, as another review on this page notes, the stupidly reversed cover photo) can be remedied when a later edition comes out.

As a graduate of The Citadel, another state supported formerly all-male military college, and as a former active duty member of the faculty of the US Naval Academy, I read this book with a great deal of interest.

Let me first say, that this indeed was a PR coup for the administration of VMI. Who better to write the account of the female assimilation than one of their own, the "band director's wife" (as Laura Brodie identifies herself in the opening paragraphs). I already knew the flavor before I began, but I read with interest anyway. I would have recommended a neutral party in this case, but my alma mater, The Citadel, has been unfairly crucified by the likes of Susan Faludi and Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly in the past. I guess I don't blame the VMI administration for turning to one of its own. However, I do think that someone in the PR department would have known that the cover photograph is backwards. My trained eye immediately noticed the breastplate direction and the rifle position, then found all the other clues. And why lose the bayonnets...Ms. Brodie seemed to believe that the Institute was rather proud of this tradition.

Ms. Brodie does do a terrific job of bringing us the details of the assimilation. She does seem very quick to compare the progress of VMI against the "mistakes" made by The Citadel. (She does have a handful of incorrect facts about both The Citadel and the US Naval Academy, but it does not detract from her message.) She seems to forget that she mentions earlier in the book that the State of South Carolina gave The Citadel less than a fifth of the funds given to VMI by the Commonwealth of Virginia and that the Department of Justice was much more involved with the Charleston-based school than they were at VMI. We friends of The Citadel do appreciate the backhanded compliments given to us, particularly with regard to the academic and physical rigors.

I enjoyed the look inside VMI. I appreciate all that they did to keep the standards the same for men and women. The plebe system at the Naval Academy is a joke--I have witnessed it firsthand. The use of exchange students was an excellent idea that I am sure contributed greatly to the success of the assimilation. The cadets that were interviewed all seemed very professional and should be commended for their accomplishments.

Unfortunately, we'll never know the other side of the story, if there was one. The two incidents of sexual misconduct that I had read about in the papers were barely mentioned. In fact, The Citadel's appearance on 60 Minutes got more ink.

Again, the book was well written, but obviously a product of the General Bunting (et al) spin machine.

This fine book should appeal to two audiences. #1-Those people interested in VMI, and #2-those more interested in "process". VMI's response to court-ordered assimilation of women into the last male military bastion in America makes fascinating reading. In either case, you have to get by what most be one of the most bizzare covers in the world. At best, it is a clumsy victory of form over substance, and at worse a small-minded negative comment on a very positive book. e.g. Blades of bayonets have been airbrushed out, but the hilts remain on the ends of the rifles! Talk about symbolism! And reminding one of the distress sign of the flag flying upside down, the cover photo is printed reversed, so that the cadets seem to be from "IMV".

Cover aside, Dr. Brodie has given a day-by-day account of women coming to VMI, beginning with the court decision: Uniforms, quarters, showers, feminine hygene, physical-education standards, dating policies, recruiting... absolutely no subject is sacred. The behind-the-scenes hero is the superintendant, General Bunting - certainly the right person at the right time.. But the real heroes are the men and women of the cadet corps who "made it work."

Most people who live outside of Virginia and who are not Civil War buffs don't realize that the defining moment of VMI came that terrible May afternoon in 1864 at the battle of New Market. Worn down by superior Union forces after hours of fighting, General John C. Breckinridge, CSA gave the command "Put the boys in, and may God forgive me for the order." The cadet corps, many only 14 years old, marched into the fire of the Federal artillery and carried the day. BREAKING OUT is a contemporary reminder that it is the spirit of the men and now women cadets of Virginia Military Institute who can be counted on to carry the day.

Brodie's book is perhaps the best written and most well researched work on the admission of women into both VMI and any US Service Academy or formerly all-male military academy yet. I credit Brodie with this success for two reasons: First, Brodie has a unique perspective on the behind-the-scenes proccesses involved with assimilation of women as she worked on them. Secondly, the book is a good length--long enough to be detailed, but short enough to be free from erroneous details. The majority of the book I think is objective. There are only two or three instances in the book that feel a little "feminist" but that is okay with me. It is hard to write a good book about what VMI actually IS without actually having to deal with being an actual cadet at the school at some point or another. Without actually having been a cadet, Brodie describes the school process and "politics" beautifully. To be sure, VMI was the last all-male school to admit women, a point of pride to many at the Institute, however, most books on other schools that I've read, like the Citadel or USNA, are from an early female-cadet's perspective. Brodie's book is one of simultaneously outside AND inside perspective. She has the unique perspective to write on the process toward admitting women and witnessing the triumphs and tragedies of the initial classes, but she is also separated from the politics and bias of actually dealing with being one of those first female cadets. Though she mentions some quotes from Ruth Bader Ginsberg's majority opinion on the case, it would also be interesting to supplement this reading with Justice Scalia's complete dissenting opinion in the VMI Case which is found in Scalia Dissents: Writings of the Supreme Court's Wittiest, Most Outspoken Justice pp 194-232.

I am a recent graduate of VMI(class of 2000) and I experienced the events covered by the book first hand. I had the fortunate opportunity of being able to experience the corps when it was all-male and then see the transition, so I have a little credibility on the subject. I find Mrs. Brodie's book to be a good example of an outsider's view of a complex, obtuse and guarded military society. She writes of accounts where she portrays the corps of cadets as a whole as knuckle dragging misogynists in a very derogatory way, while making the females out to be some sort of crusader. My main point is this, the wife of the Band Leader (who by the way did not attend VMI either) wrote a book about her outsider's view of what she sees as a black and white story simply to monopolize on the destruction of one of the country's most coveted traditions, the southern all male military school.