Evocative period photographs and dramatic personal reminiscences honor the contributions of women to World War II, from the women in home and in industry to women in service and intelligence, on both sides of the war effort.
Beginning with the years directly preceding the conflict, this book documents the changes in women's roles and their importance during the war years. Themes include the willingness of women to help in the war effort however they could; the prejudices they encountered working at historically all-male jobs; the particular hostility directed toward black women in the U.S.; and the positive self-image that resulted from participation in the workforce, armed forces, and other fields, which carried over into the 1960's women's movement. The emphasis is on the U.S., although Great Britain and Canada are also discussed, and other countries, such as Russia, are mentioned. Personal reminiscences enliven the text, and numerous photographs, illustrations, and reproductions of posters give a feeling for the period. Easy to read and to understand, this is an informative book.

Staggering in scale and impact, World War II called vast numbers of men to fight for their country and left behind huge vacuums -- in the family, the workplace and society at large. Written with profound insight and admiration, "Women at War" celebrates the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters who bravely stepped into the breach and explores how their experiences changed lives ever after for both sexes.
Heartfelt personal stories and evocative period photography dramatically capture the sacrifices and remarkable achievements of women of rare courage -- for both the allied and axis countries.
Among the many unsung heroines of World War II, readers will meet:
-- Women at home, coping with air raids, rationing and loneliness, taking in refugees and growing in resourcefulness and independence
-- Women in industry, acquiring technical skills and mastering feats of manual labor traditionally performed by men only
-- Women in service, both public and military, from fire brigades to catering corps to the privileged ranks of female pilots
-- Women in espionage, manning anti-aircraft floodlights, plotting war plans, breaking codes and uncovering the secrets of enemy intelligence

My general take on this book won't make much sense without knowing some of the details, so those first.

Each of its chapters addresses a different role filled by women during the war: housewives, industrial workers, nurses, combatants, prisoners/internees, spies, &c. There is at least some mention of the experience of women from all major belligerents, but the emphasis by far is on Anglo-American women. Of the Axis women, Germans get the most attention, and Japanese get a few sentences and a couple of photos. The U.S.'s internment of Japanese-Americans gets a couple of photos in the Prisoners chapter, but no text mention.

The text is largely a series of anecdotal histories, stories of particular women that illuminate the subject of the chapter, with varying degrees of discussion of how each role affected women in general. It also offers next to no information about the progress of the war itself. To me, the strongest chapters were the ones on labor and the services, even though, again, the emphasis was on American and British women.

The thing about this book, which probably is because it's a Reader's Digest publication, is that everything about it is glossy: not just the pages, but the stories it tells and the history it describes. Even horrible things, rape, murder, and torture, seem somehow stripped of their horror, not glamorized, but presented more for shock value than for consideration (and, of course, it's almost exclusively Allied women whose suffering is presented).

I did, however, learn something from this book: that Rosie the Riveter was resented, and the domestic propaganda machine had to run a continuous campaign to (1.) attract women into the labor force and (2.) make woman labor socially acceptable. Unfortunately, in describing women workers' resentment at being tossed out of their jobs at the end of the war and how their experiences contributed to 1960s 'women's lib,' the book says that the wartime campaign "did its job too well." In context, that sentence just seems to be a careless inclusion in an attempt at a grand book-ending summary; but still, WTH? In that one sentence they seem to trivialize what the book's message should be; they seem to say that women did fine things during the war but after all they're still only women.

For what it is – a Reader's Digest nonfiction book – it's actually pretty decent. But Reader's Digest nonfiction tends, IMHO, to be better suited for tweens, or perhaps teenagers, than adults. Which begs the question, Why was I reading it? Because it's an overview, an easy read, and full o' pictures, that's why. ( )