A Few Good Women: America's Military Women from World War I to the War in Iraq and Afghanistan
Search in google:
The never-before-told story of the U.S. women’s military corps: the women who fought for the right to defend their country by serving in our armed forces with full military rank and benefits—a fight that continues today for American military women who want to serve in combat support positions and in frontline combat units.Using interviews, correspondence, and diaries, as well as archival material, Evelyn M. Monahan and Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee tell the remarkable story of America’s “few good women” who today make up more than 15 percent of the U.S. armed forces and who serve alongside men in almost every capacity. Here are the stories of the battles these women fought to march beside their brothers; their tales of courage and fortitude; of the indignities they’ve endured; the injustices they’ve overcome; of the blood they’ve shed; the comrades they’ve lost; and the challenges they still face in the twenty-first century.U.S. military women have lived, and continue to live, the history that has helped to make and keep America what it is. Now their stories have been brought together in a riveting firsthand narrative, as inspiring as it is illuminating. Library Journal Using personal profiles, historical perspective, and their own strong opinions, the authors, both of whom served in the U.S. military and have written two other books on U.S. nurses in World War II, have compiled a comprehensive, unflinching look at the women in the military, from World War I on. Their crisp, almost military style of writing is often flavored with their own distinct point of view. They take on and refute U.S. policy toward women in each military branch, challenge misconceptions held in the 1930s and 1940s about women's "place," and spend nine pages specifically refuting an article written by Sen. James Webb of Virginia about why women have no place in combat. VERDICT Quite apart from the personal viewpoints and editorial comments throughout, this is also simply a compelling history, made stronger by the profiles of many strong, patriotic women who put up with hardship and harassment to do what they saw as their duty to their country. Students of women's history and the U.S. military will find this compelling reading. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/09.]—Jane Marino, Great Neck Lib., NY
