American Women in a World at War: Contemporary Accounts from World War II

by Judy Barrett Litoff (Editor), David C. Smith (Editor)

Overview

This title brings together twenty-five writings by women who share their rich and varied World War II experiences, from serving in the military to working on the home front to preparing for the postwar world. By providing evidence of their active and resourceful roles in the war effort as workers, wives, and mothers, these women offer eloquent testimony that World War II was indeed everybody's war.

Litoff and Smith combine pieces by well-known writers, such as Margaret Culkin Banning and Nancy Wilson Ross, with important-but largely forgotten-personal accounts by ordinary women living in extraordinary times. This volume is divided into the six sections listed below:

Preparing for War

In the Military

At 'Far-Flung' Fronts

On the Home Front

War Jobs

Preparing for the Postwar World

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742599222
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	12/01/1996
Series:	The Worlds of Women Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	237
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

Judy Barrett Litoff is professor of history at Bryant College. David C. Smith is Bird and Bird Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Maine.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 I Preparing for War
Chapter 3 Women for Defense
Chapter 4 Women in the War
Chapter 5 The Negro Woman in National Defense
Chapter 6 II In the Military
Chapter 7 Yes, Ma'am!: The Personal Papers of a WAAC Private
Chapter 8 The WAVES: The Story of the Girls in Blue
Chapter 9 Three Years Behind the Mast
Chapter 10 Shakedown Cruise
Chapter 11 III At Far-Flung Fronts
Chapter 12 Navy Nurse
Chapter 13 I Served on Bataan
Chapter 14 G.I. Nightingale
Chapter 15 Home Away from Home
Chapter 16 I Knew Your Soldier
Chapter 17 Shooting the Russian War
Chapter 18 IV On the Home Front
Chapter 19 Camp Follower
Chapter 20 If Your Baby Must Travel in Wartime
Chapter 21 So Your Husband's Gone to War!
Chapter 22 The Negro Woman Serves America
Chapter 23 War Jobs
Chapter 24 Arms and the Girl
Chapter 25 Negro Women War Workers
Chapter 26 Shipyard Diary of a Woman Welder
Chapter 27 Women and Farm Work
Chapter 28 VI Preparing for the Postwar World
Chapter 29 Out of the Kitchen?Into the War
Chapter 30 Women Workers in Transition from War to Peace
Chapter 31 Women's Responsibility in World Affairs
Chapter 32 Our Stake in Tomorrow's World
Chapter 33 Suggested Readings

Editorial Reviews

A collection of 25 excerpts and short pieces describing women preparing for war, in the military, at far-flung fronts, on the home front, in war jobs, and preparing for the postwar world. Among the accounts are the negro women in national defense, three years behind the mast, shooting the Russian war, babies who must travel (US government publication), and the shipyard diary of a woman welder. Includes a list of recommended reading, but no index or references. Paper edition (unseen), $16.95. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

Well crafted... American Women in a World at War clearly demonstrates that American women were actively engaged in the war effort.

Midwest Book Review

American Women in a World at War provides abundant materials (many of which have been out of print) on gender, class and race during World War II.

Feminist Bookstore News

The women here almost leap from the pages and pull the reader into their stories. Thanks to Litoff and SMith for retrieving this crucial segment of women's history.

Glenda Riley

Well balanced by roles, race, and region, this collection provides fascinating insight into what it meant to be an American woman during World War II.

D'Ann Campbell

With the publication of American Women in a World at War, we know that women of all races and classes fought on both the home front and the battlefront. An invaluable collection of contemporary accounts by American women who fought the war.

William M. Tuttle Jr.

An interesting book, pioneering in many ways, and a definite contribution to the history of U.S. participation in World War II, its stories gathered into a bouquet of historical documentation.

International Social Science Review

The women here almost leap from the pages and pull the reader into their stories. Thanks to Litoff and SMith for retrieving this crucial segment of women's history.--Glenda Riley

Well balanced by roles, race, and region, this collection provides fascinating insight into what it meant to be an American woman during World War II.--D'Ann Campbell, Austin Peay State University

With the publication of American Women in a World at War, we know that women of all races and classes fought on both the home front and the battlefront. An invaluable collection of contemporary accounts by American women who fought the war.--William M. Tuttle Jr., author of Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer of 1919 and Daddy's Gone to War The Second World War in the Lives of America's Children

From the Publisher