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

Emily Yellin (Author)

Book Description

Publication 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 (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 (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 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" (Madison WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Our Mothers' War: American Women at Home and at the Front During World War II (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.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Astonishing, June 12, 2004

By 

R. Williams "rwms" (Flora, ms United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Our Mothers' War: American Women at Home and at the Front During World War II (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.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource, November 4, 2006

By 

Dewey "BigBandFan" (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Our Mothers' War: American Women at Home and at the Front During World War II (Paperback)

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.