The Women Who Wrote the War [Hardcover]

Nancy Caldwell Sorel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 21, 1999

"World War II produced a huge cast of characters. War correspondents were a small but essential part of the picture, and women correspondents but a fraction of the whole. Yet the heroic role played by the women who volunteeered for combat-zone duty has never been given its due. Their ranks included Margaret Bourke-White, Martha Gellhorn, Lee Miller, Janet Flanner, and hundreds of others. The Women Who Wrote the War relates not only what they reported but also the sides of their lives they did not report. In a riveting and seamless narrative, Nancy Sorel weaves together the lives and times of these women and gives them not only the dignity they deserve but their rightful place in this century's history. Their stories form a crucial link in the long chain of women's struggle for equality."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The women who served as combat correspondents in World War II were a capable, gutsy, and inquisitive bunch. Their bravery snapping photos from bomb-laden B-17s over North Africa or interviewing blood-soaked soldiers fresh from Iwo Jima was matched only by their pluck in overcoming sexist double standards and patronizing attitudes. To a one, they were determined to prove their mettle at a time when "few newspaperwomen had made it from the society desk into the newsroom," as author Nancy Caldwell Sorel points out. Sorel (whose witty First Encounters appeared in The Atlantic for years) tracked down dozens of these women, most well into or past their 70s, and has combined candid interviews with rigorous research to piece together their amazing wartime stories.

The Women Who Wrote the War follows the chronology of the conflict through the reporters' eyes, beginning as early as a 1931 interview of Hitler by Dorothy Thompson Lewis (wife of Sinclair), in which she called the future Führer "inconsequent ... voluble, ill-poised, insecure." (Shortly after her "Little Man" rose to power, she would be expelled.) Tough and opinionated Collier's correspondent Martha Gellhorn, another reporter married to a famous writer, frustrated her new husband, Ernest Hemingway, shortly after D-Day--defying military orders, she sneaked onto the beaches of Normandy just ahead of him, pitching in as a stretcher-bearer to get her story. Gripping and well documented, Sorel's work ably captures the excitement of both the war and the exploits of the women who reported on it. --Paul Hughes

From Library Journal

Sorel, a freelance journalist who writes regularly for Esquire and the Atlantic, has assembled an impressive amount of biographical information about the women reporters who covered World War II. Though numbering fewer than 100, these women were extremely dedicated to overcoming the bias of their employers, who often felt that the front was no place for a woman, and of the military itself. The stories of these women reportersAe.g., Lee Miller, Martha GelhornAare at once inspiring, frustrating, and sad, and most are certainly worth knowing. The book, however, is more anecdotal than analytical. Important questions, such as whether these women reported the war differently from their male counterparts, is not treated systematically. In addition, the place of women in the history of news needs greater context. Still, as a journalistic account of an often neglected story, it is recommended for public libraries.AFrederic Krome, Jacob Rader Marcus Ctr. of the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing; 1st edition (September 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559704934
• ISBN-13: 978-1559704939
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #672,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a wonderful, surprising uplifting book, December 23, 1999

By 

Al Krieger - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Women Who Wrote the War (Hardcover)

Once in a while there comes along a book that informs where there has been a void, delights when each page is read,. surprises with revelations that you do not expect and is full of surprises that you do not know. This is just that type of book. I am a nut about world war 2 but did not know that women did so much in so many locations over the entire length of the war to bring those events to your doorstep in your friendly favorite newspaper. It just amazes me how many of them were in harms way, and just how they had to pretend to be men in order to get their stories accepted and published. This is a wonmderful, informative and educational piece about a segment of world war 2 that you hear little about. It is just cause that someone has finally written about these womens' deeds and gave credit where credit is due. This is a wonderful book; worth three times the price asked for and should be on anyones' buying list who is serious about learning about all sides of the war, and who really did what and when. The women here deserve a hell of lot opf credit; thank god they finally got some. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and fully recommend it to anyone interested in this genre. My e-mail is [e-mail]

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ed Klein, June 6, 2000

By 

Ed Klein - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Women Who Wrote the War (Hardcover)

Nancy Sorel's book is a masterpiece. She provides so much information and so many insights one never encounters in other books dealing with WWII. It's time these brave women were recognized for their part in the war. Reading the book reminded me of the WASPS who went so long unrecognized until General Hap Arnold went to bat for them. That term, "It's a man's war" is no longer valid, thanks to Nancy Sorel.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A thoroughly enjoyable and informative read, October 25, 1999

By 

K. Percy "percyoak" (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Women Who Wrote the War (Hardcover)

I enjoyed this book greatly -- the sort of book you look forward to coming home to read after work. I only wish there'd been more of a cultural overview, that the focus had been somewhat less on the individuals and rather more on the overall event. We're told who linked up with whom romantically, but not enough about what those often temporary and ex-marital relationships meant in the context of a woman's ethical training in those years, or how the norms were changed by the war. Perhaps that kind of summary is too much to ask from this book, but I would have enjoyed finding out how the experiences of these women fit into and changed the standards for women in that time. But the book is definitely worth reading.