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Army Wives: From Crimea to Afghanistan: the Real Lives of the Women Behind the Men in Uniform
Most families have an army wife somewhere in their past. Over the centuries they have followed their men to the front, helped them keep order in far-flung parts of the empire or waited anxiously at home. Army Wives uses first hand accounts, letters and diaries to tell their story.
We meet the wives who made the arduous journey to the Crimean war and witnessed battle at close quarters. We hear the story of life in the Raj and the, often terrifying, experiences of the women who lived through its dying days. We explore the pressures of being a modern army wife - whether living in barracks or trying to maintain a normal home life outside 'the patch'.
In the twentieth century two world wars produced new generations of army wives who forged friendships that lasted into peacetime. Army Wives reveals their experience and that of a new breed of independent women who supported their men through the Cold War to the current war on terror.
Midge Gillies, author of acclaimed The Barbed-Wire University, looks at how industrial warfare means husbands can survive battle with life-changing injuries that are both mental and physical - and what that means for their family. She describes how army wives communicate with their husbands - via letters and coded messages, to more immediate, but less intimate, texts and Skype. She examines bereavement, from the seances, public memorials and deaths in a foreign field of the Great War to the modern media coverage of flag-draped coffins returning home by military plane.
Above all, Army Wives examines what it really means to be part of the 'army family'.
We meet the wives who made the arduous journey to the Crimean war and witnessed battle at close quarters. We hear the story of life in the Raj and the, often terrifying, experiences of the women who lived through its dying days. We explore the pressures of being a modern army wife - whether living in barracks or trying to maintain a normal home life outside 'the patch'.
In the twentieth century two world wars produced new generations of army wives who forged friendships that lasted into peacetime. Army Wives reveals their experience and that of a new breed of independent women who supported their men through the Cold War to the current war on terror.
Midge Gillies, author of acclaimed The Barbed-Wire University, looks at how industrial warfare means husbands can survive battle with life-changing injuries that are both mental and physical - and what that means for their family. She describes how army wives communicate with their husbands - via letters and coded messages, to more immediate, but less intimate, texts and Skype. She examines bereavement, from the seances, public memorials and deaths in a foreign field of the Great War to the modern media coverage of flag-draped coffins returning home by military plane.
Above all, Army Wives examines what it really means to be part of the 'army family'.
- GenresHistoryWarNonfiction
400 pages, Paperback
Published August 16, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 3, 2017
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was requested or offered.
The life of a soldier is hard and often dangerous, but the life of a soldier’s spouse has its hardships and hazards as well. This book collects the stories of various British Army wives from the Crimean War (where wives sometimes shared tents near the front lines with their husbands) to the modern day, when social media allows spouses (now including husbands) to worry about the servicemember’s safety in “real time.”
After chapters on spousal travel and accommodations, the remainder of the book is in roughly chronological order. There tends to be more information on officers’ wives than those of enlisted men, as especially in the early days they were more likely to be literate and thus leave behind letters, journals and memoirs. Most of the women covered are ordinary people who rose to the occasion, but there’s also Lady Elizabeth Butler, who was a famous painter even before marrying a famous soldier.
The epilogue is about life after the army, both in the general sense, and the fates of the specific women used as examples in the book. There’s a nice center section of pictures, many in color, plus a bibliography, end notes and an index.
As always, learning about the lives of people in unusual circumstances is fascinating, and there is quite a variety of women and outcomes represented. The writing is decent, and some sections are emotionally affecting.
On the other hand, covering so many different stories means that some feel as though they’ve gotten short shrift. Edith Tolkien, for example, gets two pages, mostly about the codes her husband (J.R.R.) slipped into his letters to let her know where he was. And the section on soldiers who came home from World War One with facial disfigurements has no direct testimony from wives at all.
That said, this book should be of interest to those interested in military history (especially about women in military history) and those considering being the spouse of a military person.
The life of a soldier is hard and often dangerous, but the life of a soldier’s spouse has its hardships and hazards as well. This book collects the stories of various British Army wives from the Crimean War (where wives sometimes shared tents near the front lines with their husbands) to the modern day, when social media allows spouses (now including husbands) to worry about the servicemember’s safety in “real time.”
After chapters on spousal travel and accommodations, the remainder of the book is in roughly chronological order. There tends to be more information on officers’ wives than those of enlisted men, as especially in the early days they were more likely to be literate and thus leave behind letters, journals and memoirs. Most of the women covered are ordinary people who rose to the occasion, but there’s also Lady Elizabeth Butler, who was a famous painter even before marrying a famous soldier.
The epilogue is about life after the army, both in the general sense, and the fates of the specific women used as examples in the book. There’s a nice center section of pictures, many in color, plus a bibliography, end notes and an index.
As always, learning about the lives of people in unusual circumstances is fascinating, and there is quite a variety of women and outcomes represented. The writing is decent, and some sections are emotionally affecting.
On the other hand, covering so many different stories means that some feel as though they’ve gotten short shrift. Edith Tolkien, for example, gets two pages, mostly about the codes her husband (J.R.R.) slipped into his letters to let her know where he was. And the section on soldiers who came home from World War One with facial disfigurements has no direct testimony from wives at all.
That said, this book should be of interest to those interested in military history (especially about women in military history) and those considering being the spouse of a military person.
October 17, 2017
I admit it, I am rubbish with non-fiction books. However, there are always exceptions to the rule, and this book was one of them.
As what is probably best described as a 'career civil servant' (24 years and hopefully counting), I have worked with mostly military colleagues since I started off as a humble Admin Assistant. I have been vicariously aware of the stress and strain of the military life but reading this book was both educational and eye opening.
Military Wives have always been a special breed apparently - women who may have been afraid, challenged or terrified but remain undaunted. The author gives us testimony of women who were in India in the 19th Century facing childbirth, disease and no doctors to assist or help, the Indian Mutiny, often alone or with a houseful of servants who didn't speak any English - alone. Ladies of all classes who journeyed to the Crimea following their husbands living in ditches and scrapes in the ground or, if they were lucky, tents in sub-zero temperatures and often under fire. Through the Boer War, Great War, Second World War and the Cold War, the testimony of these ladies is fascinating and compelling - I raced through it!
A library book so going back this weekend.
As what is probably best described as a 'career civil servant' (24 years and hopefully counting), I have worked with mostly military colleagues since I started off as a humble Admin Assistant. I have been vicariously aware of the stress and strain of the military life but reading this book was both educational and eye opening.
Military Wives have always been a special breed apparently - women who may have been afraid, challenged or terrified but remain undaunted. The author gives us testimony of women who were in India in the 19th Century facing childbirth, disease and no doctors to assist or help, the Indian Mutiny, often alone or with a houseful of servants who didn't speak any English - alone. Ladies of all classes who journeyed to the Crimea following their husbands living in ditches and scrapes in the ground or, if they were lucky, tents in sub-zero temperatures and often under fire. Through the Boer War, Great War, Second World War and the Cold War, the testimony of these ladies is fascinating and compelling - I raced through it!
A library book so going back this weekend.
February 24, 2019
Amazing history!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews