Book Review: Contesting Legitimacy in Chile: Familial Ideals, Citizenship, and Political Struggle, 1970-1990
Abstract
JFHspjfhJournal of Family History0363-19901552-5473SAGE PublicationsSage CA: Los Angeles, CA10.1177/036319901243900210.1177_0363199012439002Book ReviewsBook Review: Contesting Legitimacy in Chile: Familial Ideals, Citizenship, and Political Struggle, 1970-1990MooneyJadwiga E. PieperUniversity of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA72012373341343ThomasGwynn. 2011. Contesting Legitimacy in Chile: Familial Ideals, Citizenship, and Political Struggle, 1970-1990. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. $71.95 (hardcover). ISBN 9780271048482© The Author(s) 20122012SAGE PublicationsThe cover of Gwynn Thomas’s exciting new book shows a black and white image of a Chilean family: husband, wife, and three kids. The husband, guiding “his” little group, holds the colorful Chilean Flag in his right hand, simultaneously raising his left fist high against the sky. The father’s gesture conveys action, dedication, and leadership, and the first son, by his father’s side, eagerly raises his small fist just the same. The woman, wife and mother, walks behind her husband. With an expression of quiet concern on her face, she offers protective cover to her daughter and younger son. The image succinctly portrays what is central to Thomas’s analysis: the nuclear patriarchal family, at the heart of Chilean political struggles and contestations over citizenship rights and obligations. Key to the history of this family image is its usefulness as a metaphor in the