For many American Catholics in the twentieth century the face of the Church was a woman’s face. After the Second World War, as increasing numbers of baby boomers flooded Catholic classrooms, the Church actively recruited tens of thousands of young women as teaching sisters. In Into Silence and Servi- tude Brian Titley delves into the experiences of young women who entered Catholic religious sisterhoods at this time. The Church favoured nuns as teachers because their wageless labour made education more affordable in what was the world’s largest private school sys- tem. Focusing on the Church’s recruitment methods Titley examines the idea of a religious vocation, the school settings in which nuns were recruited, and the tactics of persuasion directed at both suitable girls and their parents. The author describes how young women entered religious life and how they nego- tiated the sequence of convent “formation stages,” each with unique chal- lenges respecting decorum, autonomy, personal relations, work, and study. Although expulsions and withdrawals punctuated each formation stage, the number of nuns nationwide continued to grow until it reached a pinnacle in 1965, the same year that Catholic schools achieved their highest enrolment. Based on extensive archival research, memoirs, oral history, and rare Church publications, Into Silence and Servitude presents a compelling narra- tive that opens a window on little-known aspects of America’s convent system. Brian Titley is professor emeritus of education at the University of Lethbridge and the author of several books including Dark Age: The Political Odyssey of Emperor Bokassa. Since the 1860s, long before scientists put a name to Alzheimer’s disease, Canadian authors have been writing about age-related dementia. Originally, most of these stories were elegies, designed to offer readers consolation. Over time they evolved into narratives of gothic horror in which the illness is presented not as a normal consequence of aging but as an apocalyptic transformation. Weaving together scientific, cultural, and aesthetic depictions of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, Forgotten asserts that the only crisis associated with Canada’s aging population is one of misunderstanding. Revealing that turning illness into something monstrous can have dangerous consequences, Marlene Goldman seeks to identify the political and social influences that have led to the gothic disease model and its effects on society. Examining the works of authors such as Alice Munro, Michael Ignatieff, Jane Rule, and Caroline Adderson alongside news stories and medical and historical discussions of Alzheimer’s disease, Goldman provides an alternative, person-centred perspective to the experiences of aging and age-related dementia. Deconstructing the myths that have transformed cognitive decline into a corrosive fantasy, Forgotten establishes the pivotal role that fictional and non-fictional narratives play in cultural interpretations of disease. Marlene Goldman is professor in the Department of English at the University of Toronto and the author of DisPossession: Haunting in Canadian Fiction. 4 1 M Q U P F A L L 2 0 1 7 S P E C I F I C AT I O N S November 2017 978-0-7735-5093-3 $34.95A CDN, $34.95A US, £29.99 paper 978-0-7735-5092-6 $120.00S CDN, $120.00S US, £103.00 cloth 6 x 9 472pp 1 drawing, 1 table eBook available C A N A D I A N L I T E R AT U R E • C U LT U R A L S T U D I E S Forgotten Narratives of Age-Related Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease in Canada marlene goldman A groundbreaking comparison of scientific, popular, and literary approaches to provoke new stories of dementia. S P E C I F I C AT I O N S McGill-Queen’s Studies in the History of Religion August 2017 978-0-7735-5141-1 $29.95A CDN, $29.95A US, £25.99 cloth 6 x 9 296pp 6 photos, 9 tables eBook available W O M E N ’ S S T U D I E S • A M E R I C A N H I S T O R Y Into Silence and Servitude How American Girls Became Nuns, 1945–1965 brian titley A critical examination of the recruitment and formation of American Catholic nuns during the final decades of convent expansion.