876 Briefly Noted
today are faced with more difficult decisions and examines how many of the communities
than they ever were. Women feel pressure to of sisters in Bluffton have a charism, or
stay at home and take care of their children ‘‘gift,’’ of social justice and serving people
and they feel pressure to go to work every who are marginalized. With these charisms,
day—finding that balance is stressful. Jen- the sisters provide many charitable minis-
kins also found that the daughters were tries for the community, work with com-
less likely than their mothers to say they munity leaders, and also advocate for
feel discriminated against as women, and immigrants on a national scale. These nuns
took on the difficulty of balancing work are well loved in Bluffton as their networks
and family as their own issue rather than in the community help to sustain civic life
a structural problem. Both generations and connectivity. While they play a central
admitted to not being very involved in role in Bluffton, the continuation of their leg-
politics—they felt that women’s issues acy may be threatened since fewer young
were important, but were being swept under women are joining their ranks.
the rug by most politicians. This book is suitable for wide audiences,
Jenkins concludes by discussing the over- offering an inspiring account of how a small
all consistencies and inconsistencies she city has come to embrace diversity. It
found between the two generations. She touches on many key topics in sociology,
does a wonderful job illustrating the ways including religion, community, social net-
in which the mothers and daughters today works, inequality, and civic engagement.
handle and process their experiences as For those readers not familiar with Catholi-
women. This book is appropriate for courses cism, the author provides helpful informa-
on gender, feminism, and politics. tion, history, and background in her
discussions.
Diversity and the Common Good: Civil Society,
Religion, and Catholic Sisters in a Small Town, What Is Historical Sociology?, by Richard
by Meg Wilkes Karraker. Lanham, MD: Lachmann. Malden, MA: Polity Press,
Lexington Books, 2013. 166pp. $60.00 cloth. 2013. 176pp. $19.95 paper. ISBN: 978074
ISBN: 9780739181522. 5660097.
This book concerns the role of Catholic reli- Sociology began as a means to explain major
gious women in a small, Midwestern city historical changes. While much of modern-
along the Mississippi River, called ‘‘Bluff- day sociology engages in a more presentist
ton.’’ As the Midwest has become more approach, Richard Lachmann explains that
diverse in the past decades, many cities, the historical approach to sociology retains
including Bluffton, have struggled with this focus. Historical sociology, to answer
xenophobia and racism, and this book exam- the question posed in the title, is the study
ines how Bluffton has come to embrace of changes in societies over time, the histor-
diversity. Meg Karraker discusses many rea- ical events and contingencies that allowed
sons why this city has been successful in for those changes, and the trajectories for
doing so. Bluffton’s residents have fairly further societal development that those
high levels of socioeconomic status, are changes create. Lachmann explores how
well educated, and are well-connected to the historical approach has been used to
different social institutions, whether they study seven different sociological topics—
are political, religious, or charitable. Bluffton capitalism and its development, social
also has a large Catholic population and movements and revolutions, empires, states,
many Catholic schools. Through these Cath- social stratification, gender and family, and
olic institutions, many people come into con- culture—as well as in predictive or counter-
tact with the Catholic sisters and learn factual studies.
Catholic teachings about social justice and The result is, essentially, a book-length
caring for ‘‘the other’’—often racial minori- review of literature in historical sociology,
ties and immigrants. Karraker also discusses ranging from Marx, Weber, and Durkheim
the history of religious sisters in Catholicism to Charles Tilly, Randall Collins, and George
Contemporary Sociology 43, 6
