“[T]he fundamental strengths of this book are undeniable. Alexandra Halkias has written an exhaustive exploration of the multifarious connections and interconnections between the demografiko and abortion with reference to sex, gender, birth control, nationality, identity, etc. It is layered with analyses and theory and breaks new ground in the study of modern Greece as well as the study of the construction and the conceptualization of the nation.” — Peter S. Allen, Nations and Nationalism
“[The] interplay of a low birth and a high abortion rate is perceived as a major national problem, and referred to as the demografiko, it is intensively debated in Greek public discourse. Halkias takes this discourse as an entry point to explore the multi-layered and intricate connections between narratives of national identity and subject formation.” — Nora Gresch, NWSA Journal
“Alexandra Halkias' multi-faceted inquiry raises fundamental questions regarding the agency of the female subject and the issue of abortion. . . . The Empty Cradle of Democracy is an ambitious project, an amalgam of history, cultural politics, compilations of empirical data on Greek demographics and abortion, and primary source testaments; it braids together various interdisciplinary terrains to suggest their interdependencies in the construction of a national identity in gendered, social contexts.” — Adrianne Kalfopou, European Association of American Studies Reviews
“Halkias is particularly thorough in analyzing the discourse surrounding the dimographiko as found in political speeches, newspaper reports and letters to the editor of the leading Greek news publications. . . . [An] important addition to the longstanding debate over ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’ in Greece. . . .” — David Sutton, South European Society and Politics
“Overall, this is a well-written and relevant book…The book is rich, relevant, and puts forward novel interpretations of the undeniable relationship between gender, reproduction, identity, and the nation.” — María Fernanda Olarte Sierra , Medische Antropologie
“With all its richness of data and interpretation that penetrates deep into the complexities of the multiple links between national identity, sexuality, and gender, this volume stands out as an excellent work. Halkias writes in a prose that is most of the time inspired, engaged, and masterfully arranged.” — Archives of Sexual Behavior
"[A] rich, meticulously detailed project. . . . [The] first hand testaments give this richly layered work immediacy and maintain reader interest in the subject matter despite the weightiness of the themes. . . . [T]his very culturally specific work has been published by Duke University Press, a highly reputable University Press. . . . That the press has brought this work to print . . . is a tribute to Halkias' achievement not least of which is putting less conventionally 'Hellenistic' themes associated with the culture into dialogue on an academic world stage beyond Greece's borders. Dr. Halkias' book will be of fundamental interest to anyone who wishes to probe the paradoxical and sometimes tragic ironies of a fragmented cultural modernity examined through the nation and the female body." — Adrianne Kalfopoulou, Athens News
"[S]cholarly, erudite, wide-ranging, provocative. . . . [T]his ambitious book tackles an important set of issues and provides us with much to think about. It is a major contribution to the sociology of gender in Greece and to an understanding of the recourse to abortion there." — Peter Loizos, Journal of the History of Sexuality
"The method the author uses is daring. . . . [F]or example, her visit to a clinic where abortions are performed. The visit is presented in narrative form and a personal tone in one of the most interesting chapters of the book. . . . [T]he writing is unconventionally honest. . . . [T]he main contribution of the book is the argument that gendered subjects are shaped by public nationalist discourse even in private matters, such as the domain of their sexual life." — Sotiropoulos To Vema
An ambitious undertaking, Alexandra Halkias’ The Empty Cradle of Democracy reveals much about the entanglements of gender, sexuality and nationalism as she explores the practice of and discourses that surround abortion in modern Greece. . . . [T]his book covers tremendous ground, building from an extensive collection of empirical materials. It is an impressive undertaking and skillfully done. “ — Amy L. Best, Social Forces
“Alexandra Halkias probes the tension between the male-centered, hegemonic assumptions of European nationalism and the representation of the nation as a female body (and the female body as a national property) with an adroit irony leavened by perceptive compassion. At the heart of the paradox of modern Greece, cast as both the despised backwater and the glorious cradle of ‘the West,’ she incisively dissects a concomitant paradox: insistent calls to fill the cradle coexist with a remarkably high rate of abortion. This is politically forthright cultural analysis grounded in intimate and yet also wide-ranging observation.” — Michael Herzfeld, Harvard University
“The question of Greek women’s ready use of abortion and their ‘failure’ to use other methods of birth control is one that for some time has intrigued anthropologists. Alexandra Halkias offers provocative arguments regarding the ‘naturalness’ of abortion and the relationship between sexuality and national identity.” — Jill Dubisch, author of In a Different Place: Pilgrimage, Gender, and Politics at a Greek Island Shrine