Battle Cries and Lullabies: Women in War from Prehistory to the Present [Hardcover]

Linda Grant De Pauw (Author), Linda Grant De Pauw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1998

Covering thousands of years and spanning the globe, Linda Grant De Pauw explores the varied roles women have played in war, as warriors, nurses, spies, sex workers, wives, mothers of soldiers, sex workers, leaders of armies into battle and as baggage carriers marching in the rear. 24 illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"If there is anything fine and ennobling in war, women share the glory. If war is atrocity, women share the guilt," writes historian De Pauw (Founding Mothers) by way of argument in her encyclopedic survey. Insofar as this book's plentiful anecdotes add up to a central point, it is that the search for an essential female pacifism is fruitless and ahistorical: "every nation has a history of women in war" despite an equally long tradition of sniggering and abuse. (Once it was said that "all military women are whores," the author observes; today's amended version is "All military women are either whores or dykes.") True, scorn for female "camp followers" performing both logistical and sexual services for male troops dates to the Crusades, but the range of stories here makes clear how varied women's roles have been. The Greeks considered victory over the invading Amazons "their greatest triumph", while women across the globe have disguised themselves and gone to fight (probably more than 600 during the American Civil War alone), saved lives as nurses or worked secretly as spies, partisans and guerrillas. Though the book never directly states its larger claims, the wealth of evidence it provides renders the controversy over women in combat almost quaint?their presence on and near the battlefield is ancient, inescapable and irreversible. (Oct.) FYI: Women War Heroines by George and Anne Forty will be published in September (Arms & Armour [Sterling, dist.], $27.95 208p ISBN 1-85409-397-5.
-, $27.95 208p ISBN 1-85409-397-5)
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In a work infused with meticulous citations and presented in a logical chronology, De Pauw (history, George Washington Univ.; Seafaring Women, 1982) covers thousands of years and spans the globe to reveal the role of women in the military?a subject hardly covered by military history and contemporary women's studies. De Pauw elucidates such details as dress, hygiene, and social conduct, explaining that women soldiers even took "wives" to "help maintain their disguise." The 100 Years' War, the 30 Years' War, the American Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and the American Civil War are but a few of the human clashes De Pauw examines, and she introduces us to colorful figures like Hannah Duston, a hostage, escapee, and finally hatchet-brandishing avenger during the French and Indian Wars. Also appearing are African warrior queens who led armies of men and women and were "not merely strong but also tactically clever." An important work for women's studies and military studies collections.?Kay Meredith Dusheck, Univ. of Iowa, Anamosa
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 395 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr; 1st ed edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806131004
• ISBN-13: 978-0806131009
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,382,055 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and engaging., February 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Battle Cries and Lullabies: Women in War from Prehistory to the Present (Hardcover)

Linda Grant De Pauw does a superb job with this engaging account of the History of Women in War. You will find, while reading it, that you annoy anybody within earshot as it is full of interesting facts forcing "do you know's..." every once in a while. For example, do you know the origin of the term 'guerrilla warfare?...'You will find the explanation to this and countless other little mysteries within the pages of this book. There have been other books written on the same topic, for example 'Women Warriors' by Anthropologist David E.Jones, but none with the page turning, readable quality of 'Battle Cries and Lullabies.' If there is ever a time when Women and Warfare is considered a subject worthy of it's own course in the University then Battle Cries and Lullabies would be the perfect textbook. A lively, interesting and colorful account of a much neglected part of world History.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reviewded from a former miltary woman's perspective., January 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Battle Cries and Lullabies: Women in War from Prehistory to the Present (Hardcover)

The only thing dull about "Batle Cries and Lullabies" is the cover. When Dr Linda Grant DePauw said something to the effect that "someone has to go out on point to open the field of the history women in war'"- she has accomplished that and then some. The book is neither dry nor boring if you are the least bit interested in the accomplishments, trials and triumphs of women warriors through the ages. I served my country for 22 years, at lesser pay than my civilan contemporaries and nobody cared other than my family and friends - almost two million American women have served - and until the womens memorial in D.C. - few people cared. Sadly many women's studies programs at colleges and universities ignore the history of women in and around the military through the ages. The "miltary minded woman" is an enigma, amazons are dismissed as myth, and young women learn little about the women who fought, tried, died or persevered - from antiquity to Desert Fox. Dr DePauw's book masterfully fills this gap in womens history and takes us from prehistory to third world wars - on a fascinating journey with the likes of the courageous women whom time and historians have forgotten. The research is exceptional, and the notes and bibliography a gold mine. Although I've never met the author, as a retired miltary woman I thank Dr DePauw for this trailblazing book which belongs in the womens studies department of every hallowed hall of academia.

Barbara A. Wilson, Captain USAF (Ret)

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reviewing the Reviews, August 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Battle Cries and Lullabies: Women in War from Prehistory to the Present (Hardcover)

Reading the reviews of this book is trip through the fascinating reactions of some men to the idea that they may not have done all of history all by themselves. Squealing like stuck pigs comes to mind.

Interesting, isn't it, how a general's memoirs are hard evidence, a male private's letters home are supporting evidence, but a woman soldier's diary is mere anecdote?