Scan barcode
danicapage's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this one. We get a lot of books about war and those fighting on the front and their sacrifices. We get less about those who suffer the effects of war at home without any of the glory.
The author did a great job of noting these women who reported on the war and chose to focus on those angles. Those who mentioned that mortality rates for pregnant women and children went up during war because doctors were at the front, the hunger and starvation. The author mentions we rightly glorify and remember the sacrificies of men, but the harms women face during war are not commemorated in statues, or films, or stories.
It was an intriguing look at women in World War I, putting a spotlight on that.
The author did a great job of noting these women who reported on the war and chose to focus on those angles. Those who mentioned that mortality rates for pregnant women and children went up during war because doctors were at the front, the hunger and starvation. The author mentions we rightly glorify and remember the sacrificies of men, but the harms women face during war are not commemorated in statues, or films, or stories.
It was an intriguing look at women in World War I, putting a spotlight on that.
littlemisscass's review against another edition
4.0
“Today’s intrepid female reporters stand on the shoulders of women who pioneered in the role. Women had to fight for a place in the ranks of the press covering World War II and even decades later in Vietnam. But it was during the “Great War,” World War I, that women began showing up, against all odds, laying the groundwork for women who would, much later, follow their example.”
Well-written and well-researched, this book gives an engaging look into the work of female American WWI correspondents. These journalists set the scene for today’s, and contributed groundbreaking work as war correspondents at a time their role at home was still largely human interest stories.
Well-written and well-researched, this book gives an engaging look into the work of female American WWI correspondents. These journalists set the scene for today’s, and contributed groundbreaking work as war correspondents at a time their role at home was still largely human interest stories.
cmbohn's review against another edition
Very repetitive and hard to keep track of so many names. Might be better as a physical book.
luftschlosseule's review against another edition
trigger warning
misogyny, gore, trauma, rape, slavery, antisemitism, deportation
In this book, author Chris Dubbs explores women journalists who covered WWI, illustrating how they created such a field and focused on aspects their male counterparts most often ignored.
Most of these names were completely new to me, the exceptions being Edith Wharton and Nelly Bly.
Two things bothered me about this book, with only one being a problem:
- there are no footnotes, you have to gather what you're looking for from the bibliography
- I learned more from this book about WWI than I did in school.
The latter, of course, is neither a thing the book can do anything about nor something that reflects in any way upon it. The German school administration just avoids this topic, going from the assassination of a person whose name I am constantly forgetting because I coulnd't care less to the traity of Versailles, as if no time passed between those two.
And the first is kind of funny when you consider that the sources to the pictures are listed sometimes right down to their Library of Congress signature.
The main focus of this book is on the obstacles the journalists had to face, the strategies they employed to gain access to the front lines, and the stories they told.
Getting approved as a war correspondend proved to be a challenge in itself, but if people thought you frail and suspectible to strange outbursts of emotions - a.k.a. a woman - you had two ways to go:
Either you were so popular that your connections could get you where you wanted to be, or you took a job with a charity, doing some medical training or just helping with providing food. I have great admiration for those who chose the latter way, because it meant not only working your fingers to the bones for the main job, but collecting your thoughts in a coherent way after hours to cobble something worth publishing together when you already spent the energy you had available for that day.
Those women who reported from Europe's trenches told stories of "the women angle", meaning how civilians percieved the war efforts and what they did to do their part, being nurses, ambulance drivers, factory workers - how women stopped caring only for their own household and were able to get "real" jobs, paid jobs, jobs that brought public acknowledgement.
What interested me more were the women who worked at the front lines, because it turns out that women were everywhere. While only one or two allusions to prostitution are made, you see that women were everywhere, trying to built where the men destroyed - this gets very clear in the recounting of the Women's conference, which decided that imminent peace is needed.
I think that if I were to further my knowledge on anything mentioned in this book, actively seeking out more information, it would concern said conference.
I think what this book did best is to illustrate the differences and similarities shared by the different (white) women who either happened to be in Europe when war broke out or specifically traveled there - here - to report on what they saw.
There is no one type of female war correspondent.
I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.
In this book, author Chris Dubbs explores women journalists who covered WWI, illustrating how they created such a field and focused on aspects their male counterparts most often ignored.
Most of these names were completely new to me, the exceptions being Edith Wharton and Nelly Bly.
Two things bothered me about this book, with only one being a problem:
- there are no footnotes, you have to gather what you're looking for from the bibliography
- I learned more from this book about WWI than I did in school.
The latter, of course, is neither a thing the book can do anything about nor something that reflects in any way upon it. The German school administration just avoids this topic, going from the assassination of a person whose name I am constantly forgetting because I coulnd't care less to the traity of Versailles, as if no time passed between those two.
And the first is kind of funny when you consider that the sources to the pictures are listed sometimes right down to their Library of Congress signature.
The main focus of this book is on the obstacles the journalists had to face, the strategies they employed to gain access to the front lines, and the stories they told.
Getting approved as a war correspondend proved to be a challenge in itself, but if people thought you frail and suspectible to strange outbursts of emotions - a.k.a. a woman - you had two ways to go:
Either you were so popular that your connections could get you where you wanted to be, or you took a job with a charity, doing some medical training or just helping with providing food. I have great admiration for those who chose the latter way, because it meant not only working your fingers to the bones for the main job, but collecting your thoughts in a coherent way after hours to cobble something worth publishing together when you already spent the energy you had available for that day.
Those women who reported from Europe's trenches told stories of "the women angle", meaning how civilians percieved the war efforts and what they did to do their part, being nurses, ambulance drivers, factory workers - how women stopped caring only for their own household and were able to get "real" jobs, paid jobs, jobs that brought public acknowledgement.
What interested me more were the women who worked at the front lines, because it turns out that women were everywhere. While only one or two allusions to prostitution are made, you see that women were everywhere, trying to built where the men destroyed - this gets very clear in the recounting of the Women's conference, which decided that imminent peace is needed.
I think that if I were to further my knowledge on anything mentioned in this book, actively seeking out more information, it would concern said conference.
I think what this book did best is to illustrate the differences and similarities shared by the different (white) women who either happened to be in Europe when war broke out or specifically traveled there - here - to report on what they saw.
There is no one type of female war correspondent.
I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.
toggle_fow's review
3.0
This as an interesting look at World War I through the eyes of the female war correspondents that covered it.
Most of them I had never heard of (with the minor exception of Nellie Bly, who only featured briefly) but I ended the book feeling the desperate urge to strike off, somehow, into the unknown myself. These women were certainly characters, and managed many times through unconventional means to get closer to the action than their male colleagues.
The book emphasizes that they tended to cover the war in a more "personal" way, telling stories of day-to-day encounters and experiences, rather than writing sweeping name-and-date type articles about tactics and strategy. Overall, though, it isn't really an exploration of how WWI impacted the state of women in journalism, nor is it about journalism in WWI in general; it's more a collection of micro-biographies, snapshots of a group of intrepid women, following their correspondence careers until the end of the war.
It was interesting in an "oh, huh" sort of way, but definitely not unforgettable required reading.
Most of them I had never heard of (with the minor exception of Nellie Bly, who only featured briefly) but I ended the book feeling the desperate urge to strike off, somehow, into the unknown myself. These women were certainly characters, and managed many times through unconventional means to get closer to the action than their male colleagues.
The book emphasizes that they tended to cover the war in a more "personal" way, telling stories of day-to-day encounters and experiences, rather than writing sweeping name-and-date type articles about tactics and strategy. Overall, though, it isn't really an exploration of how WWI impacted the state of women in journalism, nor is it about journalism in WWI in general; it's more a collection of micro-biographies, snapshots of a group of intrepid women, following their correspondence careers until the end of the war.
It was interesting in an "oh, huh" sort of way, but definitely not unforgettable required reading.
More...