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About the Author

Kathryn J. Atwood is the author of Women Heroes of World War II and editor of Code Nome Pauline: Memoirs of a World War II Special Agent. Visit her online at www.kathrynatwood.com.

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Birthdate
1959
Gender
female
Nationality
USA

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I’m a big fan of Kathryn J. Atwood’s work. She’s written several collective biographies of women who either insert themselves into or find themselves in the midst of a war zone or occupied territory. Her books are written for a young adult audience, but they’re good reading for adults as well.

Courageous Women of the Vietnam War introduces the reader to the Vietnam War from a variety of perspectives: Vietnamese, French, New Zealand, Australian, and American. By including women from different backgrounds and countries of origin, Atwood is able to show how international this war in a relatively small country was.

Atwood organizes this book chronologically in five parts:

Part 1 — 1945-1956: Ho Chi Minh’s Revolution
Women featured: Xuan Phuong and Geneviève de Galard

Part II –1957-1964: Ngo Dinh Diem’s Civil War
Women featured: Le Ly Hayslip and Bobbi Hovis

Part III — 1965-1968: Lyndon B. Johnson’s American War
Women featured: Kay Wilhelmy Bauer, Jurate Kazickas, and Iris Mary Roser

Part IV — 1969-1970: Richard M. Nixon’s “Peace”
Women featured: Anne Koch, Dang Thuy Tram, and Lynda Van Devanter

Part V — 1971-1975: Endings and Beginnings
Women featured: Kate Webb, Joan Baez, Tracy Wood, and Kim Phuc

The Vietnam War has always been a rather murky mess in my mind. I haven’t read a history of the war, but I have read a few novels written by veterans who experienced combat there. The two that immediately come to mind are Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes and Fields of Fire by James Webb. I’ve read memoirs, too, such as Ron Kovic’s Born on the Fourth of July and Hurricane Street, but I’ve never attempted a study of this war. Is it because it’s too close and still seems more like current events? Is it because it was such a complex war and I have no clue where to start? World War I and World War II were no doubt complex wars, but perhaps distance has given us more entrenched narratives that are easier to follow?

I don’t know, but I do know that Atwood’s book has given me an organized overview of the war as a whole and some idea of the significant twists and turns it took over the decades. There’s a map of Vietnam and the countries at its borders with arrows outlining the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Scattered throughout are photos of each woman and sidebars that explain important concepts or events like Communism, PTSD, the POWs of Dien Bien Phu, and Agent Orange. Resources to learn more are at the end of each chapter.

The heart of this book, however, is the women that Atwood is writing about. There’s certainly a need for books about women and war, especially for young adults. And although it’s not easy to read about war, there’s something refreshing about reading about a war from a variety of perspectives, not just the victors or the warriors.

It was fascinating to learn about how life has turned out for Kim Phuc, who was famously photographed when she was 9-years-old, running naked from the flames of Napalm. And then there’s the case of Kay Wilhelmy Bauer who served as a nurse in the Navy in Guam and Japan before heading to Vietnam. After her service in Vietnam Bauer worked as a Navy recruiter in Minnesota and was targeted by anti-war protestors. Her office was bombed. Then the house next to hers was destroyed by another bomb that killed the inhabitants, a case of the wrong house being targeted. My image of anti-war protestors is hippy teens putting flowers in rifle muzzles, not domestic terrorists bombing buildings.

There’s a lot to learn and Atwood’s book is a great place to start for adults both young and older. I imagine it will fill a big gap in the libraries of those who may have read a lot about the war, but not much about women’s contributions and experiences.

[A version of this review was originally posted on my blog: https://wildmoobooks.com/2018/10/30/courageous-women-of-the-vietnam-war-by-kathr...
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Chris.Wolak | 1 other review | Oct 13, 2022 |
The 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor is December 7th and if you buy or borrow only one book to read about WWII for yourself or the young people in your life, let it be this one. Through covering the action of these 15 women, Atwood provides an excellent introduction to the reasons for the war and many of the themes, conditions, and major battles of the war years in the Pacific. She doesn't shy away from the atrocities of the war, yet presents the material in a way that's suitable for ages 14 & up.

Last year I reviewed Atwood's Women Heroes of World War I and was thrilled when asked if I'd like a review copy of her latest, Women Heroes of World War II: The Pacific Theater.

This is Atwood's second book on Women Heroes of WWII. The first came out in 2011 and focused on the European Theater. Turning her attention this time to the Pacific Theater, Atwood has written another excellent biographical/historical work that introduces readers to the 15 women featured within as well as to the major battles and themes of the war and situates it in its historical context. Her introduction provides context for Japanese aggression beginning with Matthew Perry's expedition that forced the opening of Japan's borders to the West in 1854, to World War I and its fallout, to the rise of fascist Japan and its quest to conquer neighboring countries.

A map at the front of the book highlights the lands Japan had conquered by August 1942. This map also helps readers place the women featured in this book. These woman (and girls) were reporters, nurses, missionaries, entertainers, and civilians who took action to defend and help their peers, loved ones, and countries, either through support and/or sabotaged of the enemy. From this book it is clear that women were pro-active participants in the war effort. How many more unknown women heroes were there? There are also, of course, many unknown male heroes whose stories will never be told, but since women rarely get their due in history books, especially on the topic of war, Atwood's work is vitally important and a significant contribution to the fields of military history, biography, and history in general.

The book is organized into four sections:

Part I: China
1. Peggy Hull: In a War Zone -- American, reporter in China in 1932.
2. Minnie Vautrin: American Hero at the Nanking Massacre -- American, college president.
3. Gladys Aylward: "All China Is a Battlefield" -- British, later Chinese citizen, missionary.

Part II: The US and Philippines
4. Elizabeth MacDonald: Pear Harbor Reporter and OSS Agent -- American, OSS agent.
5. Denny Williams: American Nurse Under Fire -- American. former US Army Nurse living in Manila.
6. Margaret Utinsky: The Miss U Network -- American, Red Cross Nurse & Canteen Operator.
7. Yay Panlilio: Guerrilla Warrior --American father/ Filipino Mother, undercover agent for US Army Intelligence.
8. Claire Phillips: Manila Agent -- American. entertainer ran spy network as "High Pockets."
9. Maria Rosa Henson: Guerrilla Courier and Rape Survivor -- Filipina, 14 year old rape survivor/sexual slave (aka Japanese "comfort woman").

Part III: Malaya, Singapore, Dutch East Indies
10. Sybil Kathigasu: "This Was War" -- Malayan, nurse and midwife, provided medical assistance to guerilla fighters on penalty of death.
11. Elizabeth Choy: "Justice Will Triumph" -- Ethnic Chinese from Borneo, living in Singapore, volunteered as nurse, POW, later first woman to serve on Singapore's Legislative Council.
12. Vivian Bullwinkel: Sole Survivor -- Australian, Army Nurse, sole survivor of 22 nurses who were slaughtered on Banka Island.
13. Helen Colijn: Rising Above -- Dutch, teenage POW internment camp survivor.

Part IV: Iwo Jima and Okinawa
14. Jane Kendeigh: Navy Flight Nurse -- American, first nurse to land on Okinawa, April 7, 1945 (the battle raged from April 1 - June 22)
15. Dickey Chapelle: "As Far Forward as You'll Let Me" -- American, photographer at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Survived WWII, died from wounds in Vietnam on November 4, 1965 while on patrol with the Marines. She was the first female American corresponded to be killed in action.

Each chapter offers context about the subject's personal life and situates her within the larger geopolitical setting. Atwood's writing is clear and energetic. Each woman's story reads like a mini-action adventure with historical facts and anecdotes seamlessly woven through. There are 20 black and white photos and occasional text boxes explore related events such as the Burma Railway, Kamikazes, and Executive Order #9066 (The order that forced more than 100,000 Japanese Americans into internment camps).

Like the Introduction, the Epilogue concisely wraps up the end of the war, the recovery from the war, and explains the roots of the Cold War. Atwood includes a section of Discussion Questions and Suggestions for Further Study to get readers thinking and students talking. One of the questions that interested me is the difference between German civilian and Japanese civilian attitudes toward the war: "Every German student must learn about Hitler and Nazism while Japanese students learn very little about their nation's role in the war. Why?"

Of all the stories in this book, Vivian Bullwinkel's is one that haunts me. She was an Australian Army Nurse who, after surviving a ship bombing and sinking, was marched back into the water at Banka Island along with 22 of her fellow nurses and gunned down by Japanese soldiers. She was left for dead and woke up hours later, having floated back to land. Before the bullets started to fly, the group's leader, Irene Drummond, said, "Chin up girls, I'm proud of you and I love you all." What courage in the face of certain death. Bullwinkel went on to survive in the jungle and as a POW for three years before the war's end. She died in 2000 at the age of 84.

Bottom line: Buy it for yourself and/or for the teen in your life. A great addition to any general library and a must have for WWII enthusiasts and students of women's history.

Review originally appeared on my blog here: http://www.wildmoobooks.com/2016/10/women-heroes-of-world-war-ii-pacific.html
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Chris.Wolak | 2 other reviews | Oct 13, 2022 |
This highly readable and informative book is categorized as young adult nonfiction/history and it's good reading for older adults, too.

It's the kind of book I wish had been around when I was a girl growing up on movies like The Sands of Iwo Jima, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and The Great Escape. I was fascinated by war and wanted to see women portrayed in the thick of things. Unfortunately, back then (and, sadly, still now) women's contributions to the war effort were lucky to get more than a sentence: women worked in factories, nursed the wounded, and knitted socks for the soldiers.

As a girl who sought adventure it was frustrating and embarrassing not to see examples of women who had done heroic things in history books. Even as a young Marine and then college/graduate student it was a challenge to find books and primary sources about women who contributed to the war effort beyond working in factories or nursing the wounded (often times the images presented were of clean, orderly factories and hospitals far away from danger). If a history book mentioned that women were allowed to join the military during WWI, they got a sentence and maybe a group picture with a caption that stated women joined to "free a man to fight."

As an adult I understand the importance of factory work for the war effort as well as for the advancement of women's rights. I've read about the gruesome duty and long hours nurses worked. And if the woman who joined the military in WWI mainly did paperwork they are not to be dismissed because, as anyone whose been in the military knows, accurate and timely paperwork is sometimes just as important as water and food.

But I'd wager that no one, not even women in 1914, wants to join the military to do paperwork. Women, like men, have always wanted to do something to help when the chips are down (for altruistic reasons and/or to escape their lives) and this book shows that they did, whether officially in the military or with some other organization or by taking matters into their own hands.

Women Heroes of World War I definitely helps round out the picture of what women are capable of doing during wartime and what 16 brave women did during World War I.

The book is divided into four sections:

Part I: Resisters and Spies

Edith Cavell
Louise Thuliez
Emilienne Moreau
Gabrielle Petit
Marthe Cnockaert
Louise de Bettignies


Part II: Medical Personnel

Elsie Inglis
Olive King
Helena Gleichen
Shirley Millard


Part III: Soldiers

Maria Bochkareva
Flora Sandes
Marina Yurlova
Ecaterina Teodoroiu


Part IV: Journalists

Mary Roberts Rinehart
Madeleine Zabriskie Doty


There are photographs scattered throughout the book, quotes, and mini articles in text boxes that give a bit of background on things such as poisoned gas, weapons & wounds, Greece's neutrality and side-switching, Marie Curie & Radiography, Rosa Luxemburg, the influenza pandemic of 1918, the Russian Revolution, and more.

There's an introduction to each Part which provides context and each chapter focusing on one women begins with her picture, a quote, and ends with a "Learn More" text box that includes books and occasionally websites about the subject. There's a seven page bibliography would have made me weep tears of joy as a teenager. Entries with an asterisk point out books suitable for younger readers. A three page glossary explains some general concepts (e.g. artillery, shrapnel), historical events (e.g. Franco-Prussian War, Triple Entente), and people (e.g. Kaiser Wilhelm, Tsar Nicholas II). There is no filler or fluff in this book.

Taken as a whole, the features of the book provide context and background about the war and women's lives leading up to, during, and after WWI. It covers the Western, Eastern, and Italian fronts, and conditions for civilians within Germany.

Women Heroes of World War I would be an excellent addition to both school and public libraries and appropriate for both readers new to WWI and those who've already read much about the subject, whether YA or plain old adult readers.

This book is part of the Women of Action Series from Chicago Review Press. Atwood has two previous titles in the series, Code Name Pauline: Memoirs of a World War II Special Agent, Pearl Witherington Cornioley and Women Heroes of World War II: 26 Stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Resistance, and Rescue.
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Chris.Wolak | 3 other reviews | Oct 13, 2022 |
Victory in the Pacific Theater came through the paths of spies, fighters, prisoners of war, survivors, courageous heroines of World War II. Atwood paints vivid pictures of how 15 women helped change history.
 
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NCSS | 2 other reviews | Jul 23, 2021 |

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