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

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

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:

Genres: History, American History

254 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Rebecca Reddell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a helpful resource to read through, but I wish it had been a bit more thorough in its covering of topics. I can appreciate the insights it did give, and I'd recommend it to someone who wants a short preview of history and women's roles during WWII.

[Meghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, this book is outdated for today. So many new insights have emerged since the early 90's that we have a better understanding of this topic now than we had back then. The book claimed to cover many points of view but really it was about white Christians and Black women. Not a single selection on Jewish or Japanese women, for example. They also made it sound like this was the first time women ever got to work in the US, but that obviously isn't true. The focus was on middle-class women. Instead of explaining why many women stopped working after the war, they complained that it just happened. A few of the selections were interesting, ones that were more a narrative account rather than official documents.