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.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
