And If I Perish: Frontline U.S. Army Nurses in World War II [Kindle Edition]

Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee (Author), Evelyn Monahan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Monahan and Neidel-Greenlee, two former military nurses who have co-written previous books about American nurses in World War II Japan and Albania, have collaborated again to produce this popular account of the Army nurses who served in the war against Germany. Based on interviews, correspondence and diaries, as well as on published sources and archival material, this book employs a descriptive, matter of fact style that makes a nice foil to its vivid use of reconstructed dialogue and primary source quotations. Though the book is divided into chapters that recount individual campaigns (e.g. "Chapter 5: Nurses in the Sicilian Campaign," "Chapter 6: The Sinking of the HMHS Newfoundland"), Monahan and Neidel-Greenlee do follow the experiences of several nurses throughout their history, bringing a narrative cohesion to what might have otherwise been a fragmented series of anecdotes. Particularly fascinating are their graphic descriptions of medical conditions, like gangrene and malaria, and of hospital procedures, such as the then-cutting-edge operation of transfusing whole blood into wounded soldiers. Though the extensive background material explaining battles and campaigns can sometimes threaten to swamp the narrative, overall this volume provides a valuable account of an often-neglected historical topic: the frontline experience of the women of the Greatest Generation.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Their valor was unrivaled, their patriotism undeniable, but their contribution to the war effort was largely unacknowledged. Long before there were women in the military, flying sorties and commanding tanks as they do today, there were women in combat zones: more than 59,000 voluntarily served their country as U.S. Army nurses during World War II. Yet their story has seldom been told, for no veterans groups nor military bureaucracy ever claimed them. Witness to the abominations of the war's most gruesome battles, from the D-Day invasion of North Africa to the triumphant V-E Day defeat of Nazi Germany, they endured the horrors of the battlefield alongside their GI counterparts, eluding death by sheer luck and split-second timing. Forced to work under primitive conditions with insufficient supplies, they nonetheless tended soldiers' physical and psychological injuries with unflagging grace and unwavering dedication. Battle by battle, in vivid, newsreel-like fashion, the authors dramatically portray the heroic efforts of courageous women who experienced the war at its most horrific and heartrending levels. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 3974 KB
• Publisher: Anchor (December 18, 2007)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001334J1O
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,739 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #6 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Medicine > Special Topics > History
  • #6 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Medicine > Nursing
  • #6 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Medical > Nursing

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Incredible Book About Incredible Women., April 1, 2004

By 

Carole A. Mauro (Bristow, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: And If I Perish: Frontline U.S. Army Nurses in World War II (Hardcover)

I have wanted to write this review since I finished "And If I Perish", but, quite frankly, I did not know how to start. As a lifelong reader, a woman of a "certain age" and an English teacher, I must have read thousands of books over the years. This one is, quite simply, the best book I have ever read. One of the jacket cover comments uses the word, masterpiece, that barely describes it.
The authors have done a magnificent job of weaving a seamless saga from the early days of WW II in North Africa, up through Italy and France and into Berlin. While I have read many books that chronicle the experiences of several people it was always difficult to keep them straight without a great deal of re-reading. Not so with these nurses, they are all recalled with no effort at all. While this is in no doubt due to Monahan & Neidel-Greenlee's formidable talents as authors, it is also because of these incredible nurses themselves. They were all of the things their daughters demonstrated about. They were brave, dedicated, self-reliant, tough, funny, compassionate, smart and inspiring. I am in awe of every one of them. They stand among the greats of the Greatest generation.
Monahan and Niedel-Greenlee have done us all a great service by telling this story. Thank you both.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Long Overdue Tribute to WWII Nurses, March 8, 2004

By 

L. Mayes (Rapid City, SD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: And If I Perish: Frontline U.S. Army Nurses in World War II (Hardcover)

This is an extremely well written and interesting book, covering a part of America's World War II history which has been sadly neglected. Almost half of the 59,000 female nurses who volunteered for the US Armed Forces during WWII served overseas. During the course of the conflict approximately 1600 of these nurses were decorated for their actions, receiving Distinguished Service Medals, Silver and Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts, among other awards. More than 70 of these nurses were captured and 217 died of injuries and illness, 16 as the result of enemy action. The authors spent over a decade tracking down surviving nurses and their friends and families in order to compile this well documented, personal and most entertaining book. Several of the key figures are followed from their recruitment before and during the early stages of the war throughout the entire North African and European campaigns. The rich detail and often tragic first-person accounts of landing with the Allies, particularly in North Africa, and the hard learned lessons of American unpreparedness for war are told with stark straight forwardness by those who participated. The authors have professionally woven in the larger strategic backdrop, along with significant tactical explanations, in a manner that tells the reader how the nurses and their various hospitals fit into the bigger scheme of the war. The nurses come alive through their narration, putting a very human face on horrific living and working conditions as their units keep close to the combatants. The portion of the book dealing with the nurses' struggles on the Anzio beachhead brings into sharp focus their absolute dedication to their profession under the most extreme of circumstances. This book is exceptionally well researched, with numbers and types of casualties treated in the various theaters of war routinely given, clearly putting emphasis to the great magnitude of what was being accomplished. A number of excellent photographs throughout the text show quite graphically the dangers of front line nursing and hospitals, the faces of the primary narrators and the environments in which they labored. This book will be a wonderful companion to the other great histories of WWII and is highly recommended.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And If I Perish, December 7, 2003

By 

Anne Sirman (Lilburn, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: And If I Perish: Frontline U.S. Army Nurses in World War II (Hardcover)

If history had been taught like this when I was in school, I might have become an historian instead of a nurse. AND IF I PERISH makes it very clear that history is alive with wonderful stories and heroes yet unsung. I thank Monahan and Neidel-Greenlee for writing a book that is meticulous in the facts it presents, and thoroughly enjoyable as a good read----a combination not often found in books dealing with historical subjects. I hope these two authors will grace us with many more books in the future. As for AND IF I PERISH, it should be designated a national treasure and read by every American. It belongs in every library and on the bookshelves of every home. Once I began reading, I could not put it down. Wonderful, Wonderful!