julia fox book review

julia fox book review

The Impact of Julia Fox’s Book

1. Introduction

Functionalists traditionally have said that the structural changes in the family life have led to deviant behavior among children, such as substance abuse or delinquent behavior, because the new family forms do not effectively build social capital. The family is seen as the main building block of social capital for children and their parents. By having a family with a single mother who works full-time, social capital theorists would say that there is a loss of bonding with the children, as the mother would have less contact time with children and would know less about their activities. This too is what functionalists would say is the cause of the deviant behavior. The mother who knows relatively little about her children’s whereabouts would not be able to prevent them from coming into bad peer influences and into trouble with the law.

Over the past twenty to thirty years, major changes have been taking place in North America and Western Europe. These changes have to do with the structure and organization of families. More families are headed by single parents, more women are working outside the home, and there is continuing to be wide variability in the ways that families are constituted. All of these changes are parts of larger social changes which have been greatly influenced by the feminist movement. One might ask, “What effect are these changes having on the lives of children?” In considering this question, we look to a sociological explanation, the social capital framework put forth by Coleman and others.

2. Analysis of Julia Fox’s Book

An important theme developed in the book is the power of memory in defining family history. Fox reveals how her family was burdened by her grandfather’s memory, yet they never spoke about him. This suggests they were suppressing the memory, and yet the fact that he was a soldier was a defining feature of Fox’s family identity. This was a common experience in many interwar families, and Fox’s objective here is to recall the memory of the soldiers into the public’s consciousness of what really happened and its impact on UK society.

Fox has produced a scholarly work, throwing light on many key areas in 20th-century history. The memory and history debate and the impact of the Great War on British society are two of the key areas mentioned. These areas are argued using many types of historian’s evidence, from statistical evidence to the personal evidence revealed in family correspondences. This is a strength in the book, producing a lively historical debate.

Julia Fox is a knowledgeable writer about her topic. As a relative newcomer to the field, she brings fresh and bold perceptions on the topic. Fox uses her life to illustrate many themes. As a child, she never knew of her grandfather, as he died in the war. The topic was never discussed in the Fox home, and Julia’s father did not pursue the investigation. This encouraged Julia to start exploring her family history.

3. Key Themes Explored

This is a self-discovery book. It is about what happens when one woman tries to bring her personal life into line with her beliefs and her actions into sync with her values. It is about how success actually is defined in the US. What does it mean to be a successful person? Success can assume a lot of different definitions depending on who is asked. In his book, The Road to Excellence, Ben Stein defines success as “power, prestige, prominence and prosperity.” Fox discovers that society assumes success to mean wealth and an abundance of luxury. Fox defines success as reaching a long-term goal or fulfilling a desire. Success is achieved when the person is content with the outcome. Although Fox never clearly states what she feels her definition of success is, an anecdote at a dinner party helps to clarify her position. When asked by her friend, “What’s going on?” Fox realizes that her company has not done enough to promote public awareness of social and environmental issues. She answers his question with another question, “What do you think should be going on?” This shows that her company’s sense of success is measured not by fame and fortune, but by whether they have accomplished what they had set out to do. Fox, it seems, defines success as actualizing a goal to the point where one is satisfied with the outcome. Her business had not done enough to promote social change; therefore, it had not yet reached its “goal.” Success for Fox is reaching a goal, whether that goal is personal or professional. This contrasts greatly with how society deems success to be a lavish lifestyle full of material abundance.

– The Self-Help Theme – Success and Identity

4. Critique and Reception

This book was the subject of much criticism upon its publication. Written in English, there were some harsh words, generally of dismissive nature, describing this work’s recognition of what is the first historical event of its kind i.e. the “largest empire in the world declares war on 32 predominantly nonwhite countries over the right of one white colony to discriminate against all nonwhites.” The most common criticism for this book was its supposed lack of academic rigour and general sloppiness, often to the point of being unreadable. However, it should be noted that these criticisms mostly came from non-historians outraged at the impugning of a much revered (though dubious) event and have never themselves attempted a study of the sources for this event. Fox’s book was, in the eyes of qualified historians, a soldier from one of Africa’s colonies, telling the story of an event through the old men who were there, has broken ground in terms of new sources considered. And it is mainly this purpose, to show an event through the eyes of the colonized, the event it essentially causes, and the collapse of colonial empires that in the end, makes the story of this empire more than a mere sideshow to the history of the western world. Recently, this work was given international more recognition by John Pilger, an Australian journalist/filmmaker, when he revealed that the British government had tried to prevent the book from being published, a plan which was dismissed due to the lack of legitimate reasons to censor a retired former member of the British army.

5. Conclusion

Our aim in creating this content was to examine the effect of Julia Fox’s The Deceitful Marriage at the conclusion of the seventeenth century and the start of the eighteenth century. The writers of the essays in this collection have plainly taken issue with the dominant interpretation of Weldon’s conduct, as conveyed at her trial and as subsequently amplified by the tales and biographies which have characterized her ever since. Roxann Wheeler’s and Thomas Keymer’s essays challenge the reliability of Marie de St Remy’s Histoire, introducing new evidence that surfaces Weldon’s conspicuous attempts to guard her reputation. They contend that Weldon’s proactive stance in her later life, following a protracted interval of silence on her personal matters, indicates her authorship of The Court of King James I. At the point when she died she requests to be buried with the king and her manuscript is alluded to by different biographers. Patricia Pender advocates in direct terms for a reassessment of Weldon’s royalist sympathies, contending that the standard biographical portrayal of Weldon as ‘ne Ardent Independent’ has unsuitably colored readings of her fiction. All three writers demonstrate a deep regard for Weldon and a dissatisfaction with her apparent mistreatment as a person and author in literary history. An unexpected Weldon emerges from this collection who, even in her most sordid and libelous moments, is an object of compassion and a symbol of literary potential frustrated. According to the aforementioned purposes of this collection, the essays by Wheeler, Keymer, and Pender will have accomplished their task in the event that they evoke questions concerning Weldon’s narratives which lead to renewed interest in her works.