Our Mothers' War: American Women at Home and at the Front During World War II [Paperback]

Emily Yellin (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 1, 2005

Our Mothers' War is an eye-opening and moving portrait of women during World War II, a war that forever transformed the way women participate in American society. Never before has the vast range of women's experiences during this pivotal era been brought together in one book. Now, Our Mothers' War re-creates what American women from all walks of life were doing and thinking, on the home front and abroad. These heartwarming and sometimes heartbreaking accounts of the women we have known as mothers, aunts, and grandmothers reveal facets of their lives that have usually remained unmentioned and unappreciated.

Our Mothers' War gives center stage to one of WWII's most essential fighting forces: the women of America, whose extraordinary bravery, strength, and humanity shine through on every page.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After years of planting Victory gardens, volunteering at USOs and coping with increased home front responsibilities, in early 1945 Yellin's mother quit her desk job at Reader's Digest and shipped out to the Pacific Front to join the Red Cross. Wartime manpower shortages were bending gender rules, and many women seized the opportunity to try something different. While feminist historians have analyzed the meaning of their war experience, ?ournalist Yellin takes a more subjective approach. This nonjudgmental, anecdotal account covers the usual range of topics—women in war industries, in volunteer work, in the armed forces, in undercover operations—but Yellin avoids retelling the familiar. Thus, she discusses the experiences of Lena Horne and Julia Child more fully than those of Eleanor Roosevelt, and delves deeper into the anti-Semitic Mothers' Movement and Hawaiian prostitutes walking picket lines than more mainstream organizations like the CIO women's committees. Yellin describes the exclusion of African-American women from most military units and the internment of Japanese-American women, but adds little to present scholarship on minority women's participation. Indeed, since her most original material comes from interviews with relatives, family friends and contacts, the book is strongest on the experiences of educated white women, which were surprisingly diverse. For WAVES director Mildred McAfee—the president of Wellesley College before the war—life in the navy took her out of her "cloister" and thrust her into a world where "women are women and men are men." For others, like Yellin's mother, the war let their genies out of the bottle.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–An exceptionally well-written, exhaustively researched book. During World War II, females were confined to auxiliary roles. Yellin reveals all of the responsibilities held by women, including helping to manufacture aircraft, ships, and other munitions; and, in the process, outproducing all of America's allies and enemies, by far. Readers see war brides who worked hard to maintain the morale of their husbands while surviving long separation, fear, and shortages of virtually everything necessary to support a family. Yellin writes about performers like Betty Grable, who traveled to combat theaters to raise the spirits of soldiers, sailors, and airmen. Our Mothers' War is an important book because the role played by women in World War II has been regularly ignored.–Alan Gropman, National Defense University, Washington, DC
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; Reprint edition (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743245164
• ISBN-13: 978-0743245166
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #480,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars They deserve more credit than they have gotten. June 7, 2004

By tmangrove

Format:Hardcover

A great read!

This book is full of surprising, well-told stories of heroic, courageous, and fascinating women. Not just another history of the "supporting roles" of women during the war. This book goes far beyond the stock portrayals of WWII women to take you into their private thoughts and fears. There are pilots, war photographers, disc jockeys, spies, soldiers, members of congress -- so many women who stepped up and took part in the war, often in spite of great opposition. (And it doesn't shy away from telling about a few women who were not so noble during the war either.)

I had never seen the women of WWII placed in this light -- as equal partners in fighting and winning. This book will make you want to know more about your own mother, your aunts, and your grandmothers. (Hopefully you still have a chance to discuss this book with them!) It should be read by every son, daughter, grandson and granddaughter of the Greatest Generation.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Astonishing June 12, 2004

By R. Williams

Format:Hardcover

This is a unique compilation of astonishing research and
personal history that takes the crust off our mothers' wartime persona. Even the high profile women of WWII ? Dietrich, Lombard,
Davis, et al ? are illuminated in thoroughly surprising ways. I read slowly and savored each page, and by the end I knew my mother and grandmothers and the human spirit, better. Kudos to Emily Yellin.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource November 4, 2006

By Dewey

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The voice of women veterans is one too seldom heard. Now, with WWII veterans dying at a rate of over 1,000 per day, those voices will all too soon become silent. WWII was the first time women joined the military, and they encountered prejudice and hardships every step of the way. The women and nurses who served in the military witnessed horrors that many of the men encountered, but with much less preparation and little resource for healing after the war. All but forgotten for the roles they performed, this book brings to light their stories by both the women themselves, as well as the author's research and study. Much of the information is rarely found in available books, and "Our Mothers War" is an excellent resource for that information- particularly on the lesser known women's roles on the homefront, in espionage, and those who were taken as prisoners of war. Women volunteered to help the war effort in every possible way. The accounts tell stories of war as well as stories of the lighter side of day-to-day living that was the human side of life during WWII.

An excellent overall account of women in the 1940's, and one that will likely encourage the reader to delve deeper into our nation's history of female veterans, women's roles and the women's movement.

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great personal in-depth look March 26, 2005

By Anyechka

Format:Hardcover

This isn't meant to be some exhaustive encyclopedia, but it's nevertheless a very solid thorough detailed account of what the women of the WWII generation went through, in many facets and fields. Besides just writing about the women in the military, in the factories, on the general homefront, and in the Japanese-American internment camps, there is also interesting insightful information on areas little covered, such as the women who worked at or who had husbands working at Los Alamos, prostitutes, women in right-wing pro-Fascist groups agitating against the American government, and spies. It's stunning to read about all the women of my grandmothers' generation had to struggle against to be accepted into the military, in factories, as professionals, in any capacity in fact besides that of wife, mother, sister, and girlfriend. Particularly horrifying was the section on the Victory Girls; the sexual double standard sent women (many of them proven innocent) suspected of passing VD to soldiers to jail, while giving these soldiers no punishment for cavorting with prostitutes and giving them the best care instead of forcing them to languish in dank unhygienic jail cells without medical attention. Blame the women and treat the men as innocent victims. Also shocking in modern times is how women believed to be lesbians in the military were treated, like they had a mental disorder and were deranged unnatural deviants, as well as how many women who had loyally punctually worked in the factories were handed their discharge slips on the day the boys came home.... Still, even restrained by the double standard and beliefs of the era, these women had tasted freedom and greater possibilities, and thanks to everything they did, their knowledge of greater possibilities, they raised daughters who would help to bring about the womens' liberation movement in the next generation, knowing they could never go back to the limited world and possibilities that had existed prior to WWII. Read more ›

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A book for those who lived through WW II May 3, 2009

By James M. Mcfillen

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased this book for my in-laws who lived through WW II. My father-in-law served in the Army in India as a medic, while my mother-in-law waited at home. They have read numerous books about the war, but until now had not seen a book about life on the home front or about the role of women in the war. They are really enjoying the book. Give your WW II relatives a taste of nostalgia; send them this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars History that feels alive May 22, 2011

By HappyGoLucky

Format:Hardcover

Is you are looking for a straight-forward, well-researched history of American
women during World War II, this book will give you that and so much more. On
nearly every page you will find many surprising, little-known facts about the war.
The real strength of this book, however, is the personal accounts from women in
a wide range of American life at home and in the theater of war; from everyday
working women's lives to the lives of women in the highest seats of power. The
voices of real women leap off the page and you are brought into their innermost
experiences, fears and hopes. Some of the stories are heroic, some about the daily
frustrations of maintaining a family during war, many recount the sacrifices
small and large that women made with very little recognition or support. The book
also discusses the opportunities that became available to women during WWII
later led to permanent changes in American society ... breaking down economic
and racial barriers that had been entrenched for centuries. Despite giving you
a thorough sweep of history, the writing style is engaging and enjoyable.
This is a moving, warm and inspiring book ... highly recommended!