Review
"Through an extensive analysis of the testimonies, oral and written, of women in the Italian resistance, 1943-45, Slaughter presents a vivid account of the backgrounds, motives, roles, and meanings women gave to that experience." --
Choice, January 1998
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
From the Inside Flap
Women and the Italian Resistance is a study of women's participation in the movement to overthrow the Fascist regime, expel the occupying Germans, and rebuild a progressive and democratic Italy. Between 1943 and 1945, some 50,000 Italian women engaged in resistance activities--as military commanders and combatants, saboteurs and couriers, nurses, organizers, demonstrators, and political leaders. But they also began to articulate their own visions for Italy's future--and for transforming women's role in that new society.
Slaughter presents a profile of Resistance women and examines the motives for their activism and the impact of their contributions. The women's own words, taken from extensive interviews, describe their daily experiences and reactions as partisans. Finally, Women and the Italian Resistance analyzes the degree to which women's involvement in the Resistance resulted in a political and feminist consciousness and female emancipation.