Customer Reviews:
Winning My Wings: A Woman Airforce Service Pilot in World War II.......2007-09-08
This was a wonderful book. I belong to a book club and I like to choose books about women. I was visiting the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington several months ago and came across this book. It looked so interesting that I decided to choose it for my book club to read. Everyone LOVED the book and we plan to read more books about the WASPs. You will thoroughly enjoy this book --- I love how a lot of the book is written through letters that Marion Stegeman Hodgson actually wrote to her mother and a man friend, whom she eventually married. The only thing I wish is that the book was LONGER!!! It was one of those books that you can't wait to pick up again!! ENJOY!!
Outstanding insight to the joys and tragedies of flying.......1999-06-01
Marion has written an excellent insight into the experience of flying. As a fellow pilot, I greatly enjoyed reading about the experiences of Marion and the other women pilots during WWII. The story is filled with joy and tragedy splashed across her story of becoming a military pilot. Just as important as the flying, she relates how she came to marry her husband of over 50 years, Ned Hodgson. This is a wonderful book that anyone interested in flying and the romance of the air should read.
Book Description
"Hillary Clinton Nude: Naked Ambition, Hillary Clinton and America's Demise" is a blockbuster literary exploration of the most controversial politician in America. Stripping away the veils of imagery which mask the imperfections of Hillary Rodham Clinton, "Hillary Clinton Nude" presents a non-partisan yet passionate case against a second Clinton presidency. Author Sheldon Filger has written a bombshell of a political book, conveying a warning to the American people of the dire risks to the nation's continuity should the former First Lady succeed in fulfilling her ultimate political ambition. More than just another Hillary Clinton book, "Hillary Clinton Nude" is a sobering commentary on the state of American politics in the new century, and the influence of money, image making and celebrity power in the debasement of meaningful political discussion in the United States. Democrats, Republicans and independent voters will discover much to reflect on in this incisive and revealing book. The 2008 presidential elections may be among the most decisive in America's post-war history. Do not go to the polls without arming yourself with the knowledge found in Sheldon Filger's incisive book, "Hillary Clinton Nude."
Customer Reviews:
SOBERING WARNINGS.......2007-06-15
Sad, but true : Hillary Rodham is a menacing presence on the American political landscape; and so books like this serve as important warnings to all Americans, and to all freedom loving people on earth. This book, presented as fact, is strikingly similar to a book of fact-based fiction in that both are clearly intended as "warning calls" (or "sobering warnings") about Hillary; but the other book, entitled THE EMPRESS PROJECT, goes farther in its analysis and shows how a foreign power (Red China) is meddling covertly and dangerously in domestic American politics and using a home grown American citizen as its political "proxy". Is the message of THE EMPRESS PROJECT true? Is the message of this book by Sheldon Filger really factually correct? Maybe readers should read both, reflect on both, and draw their own conclusions.......The Empress Project
IS HILLARY ELECTABLE?.......2007-04-20
One of the main reasons that George W. Bush was elected president was because of the country's guilt that they had elected Bill Clinton instead of Bush Sr. It was the country's way of recognizing that they made a tragic mistake by voting for Bill Clinton. The election of Bill Clinton's wife would be a travesty for the country because it is so shamefully obvious that Hillary used her position as First Lady to justify her husband's shameful behavior and ran for Senator of NY just to position herself to run for President. The Clintons have no shame. I hope that the American people will not fall for them a second time. We need a true leader that will serve the American people well.
Noel Serrano
Essential insights, but with some weaknesses.......2007-01-01
Like another reviewer, I was contacted by author Sheldon Filger and invited to read and review "Hillary Clinton Nude." This is a valuable addition to the shelf of books about HRC. While it has a number of significant weaknesses, this volume also has significant strengths. It's up to the individual reader to decide how best to balance the two.
Perhaps paradoxically, "Hillary Clinton Nude" is both passionate and dispassionate: passionate in the strength of the language, in the author's commitment to his principles and beliefs, and in his conviction that the election of President Hillary Rodham Clinton would be an unmitigated disaster for the United States. At the same time, though, Filger is dispassionate in that he -- unlike many other writers on HRC -- is not a member of the fabled "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy." In fact, the vituperation Filger directs at Hillary is rivaled only by the scorn he directs at George W. Bush. "Hillary Clinton Nude" cannot, therefore, be dismissed as a GOP hit-piece or a brief on behalf of some other, competing, presidential candidate.
The author makes a persuasive case that lacking any demonstrable skills, training, opinions, or even basic understanding of the vital issues of economics and international relations, the only thing HRC can build a presidential campaign on is nostalgia for her husband's years in office. As Slick Willie's most attentive student, Hillary is mastering, Filger argues, the Clintonian Method of obfuscation, name-calling, smoke-and-mirrors, and (especially) a highly selective use of history, including but not limited to outright lies about facts, situations, and people.
Sheldon Filger is committed to setting the record straight, and so devotes considerable ink to laying out the facts about half-forgotten Clintonian scandals like the White House travel office firings, Hillary's commodities-futures windfall, Pardongate, and of course, Monica and impeachment. Of course, Filger thereby leaves himself open to the Clinton-defenders' time-tested charge that he is "obsessing over old news" while HRC herself is focused on the future. Given Filger's thesis of the importance of Clinton-nostalgia to HRC's own presidential hopes, however, I think he's done exactly the right thing.
As I said, however, this book also has a number of weaknesses. Some of them, I admit, are matters of taste. But there are substantive omissions as well.
For one thing, Filger's prose is, if not purple, certainly redolent of lavender: "Given the constellation of storm clouds gathering on the horizon of the new century, having a mediocre and politically ambitious megalomaniac figure making the key decisions of state is an alignment with catastrophe. It is also a rash gamble with history. If, indeed, the contemporary world resembles the apocalyptic dynamics that existed in the summer of 1914, then the admixture of nuclear armaments portents [sic] a cataclysm that will be vastly more devastating to humanity" (p. 179).
As another matter of taste, I wasn't thrilled by the cover illustration by Molly Crabapple. It makes it too easy for critics to dismiss the whole book as an unattractive hit piece while ignoring the substance within. Certainly, I'm not going to leave this just sitting around on my desk at work.
Among the substantive topics Filger doesn't address, one key one is Hillary's alleged "move to the center" in the Senate. It seems obvious that this is part of Clinton's decades-long effort to disguise her true radicalism, but it will also be a centerpiece of her presidential campaign. A discussion of this question would seem to be in order.
Most fundamentally, I did not come away from this book with a clear idea of whether Filger believes that, deep down in her soul, Hillary really *believes* in anything more than her own ambition. For the vital distinction, I've always believed, between Pudge and Ruffles (wish I could remember who coined those nicknames) is that whereas he is an opportunist with no firm beliefs, Hillary is a true ideological warrior.
Other writers, from Barbara Olsen to R.E. Tyrrell, have done great work tracing Hillary's growth as what Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn described as a "Christian Social Romantic." In this understanding, HRC's Methodist upbringing was filtered through the tactical genius of Saul Alinsky to create a person driven by a true spiritual fanaticism. I think this is the only real explanation for HRC's distinctive drive, her determination not just to confront, but ultimately to destroy, anyone who disagrees with her or opposes her utopian vision: she sees them, in a very real sense, as fundamentally, theologically, evil. I believe that this is the key to understanding Hillary Clinton. I'm not sure, though, whether Sheldon Filger agrees.
Finally, I need to point out that this book lacks footnotes, endnotes, bibliography, and index. Clearly a lot of research went into preparing this, but it is impossible for a reader to track the author's sources.
This is a quite long review because I appreciate the author's request for my opinion of his work. What Sheldon Filger has produced is a strong, well-argued, and unquestionably important book. With some work on what I consider the book's shortcomings, a second edition could easily warrant four or even five stars.
The One Indespensible Book on Hillary Rodham Clinton.......2006-12-01
Of all the many books on Hillary Clinton, pro and con, this is the one essential read on the aspiring presidential candidate for thinking people on both the Right and Left. Devastatingly critical of Hillary Clinton, but without an ideological axe to grind, Sheldon Filger skillfully presents a case against another Clinton presidential administration that defies partisanship. Thoroughly researched and convincingly written, the author goes beyond the usual critique of Hillary. He identifies the critical challenges that America will confront in the next decade, than proceeds with an ironclad case as to why Hillary Clinton is intellectually and experientially ill equipped to provide the quality of leadership America must have in its next president. Reading like a thriller, this book presents a chilling scenario for America's future should Hillary Clinton be elected as president. Every thinking person, irrespective of their party affiliation, will find Filger's book a sobering and thought-provoking overview of what is at stake in the 2008 election.
A Thoughtful Look at a Serious Subject .......2006-11-08
In the interests of full disclosure, I was sent a copy of this book by the author and asked to review it. I'm glad he did becauise I probably would never have found it on my own. Books on Mrs. Clinton are plentiful. Some are hit pieces. Some are laudatory. This one is dispassionate and sobering.
Mr. Filger is no Right Wing writer (and therefore not a member of the vast Right Wing Conspiracy which was born from Mrs. Clinton's mouth in defense of her husband's filanderings).
One only has to read his take on the decision to go to war in Iraq and the execution of that war to understand that. George W. Bush, Richard Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are fully filigreed by Mr. Filger concerning their involvement in what he clearly considers was an egregous error... "America's invasion of Iraq in 2003 was anchored in neocon delusions. Born of the ambition of a reckless and ignorant man, under the influence of a narrow minded clique of bloodthirsty noncombatants and propelled by outright deception of the American people, the enterprise was doomed to failure." Is that plain enough for you?
Filger then goes on to show how Mrs. Clinton manuvered herself to be in support of the war for political reasons and how she has since that time somewhat inartfully tried to extract herself from that position.
Chapter and verse follow which trace Mrs. Clintons attitudes, deceptions, duplicity and ambition. It is sobering and it is delivered in such a way that one has no doubt as to it's veracity. Likewise sobering is his warning that if Mrs. Clinton's political ambitions triumph, the demise of America is assurred.
His final warning is chilling..."Should the American people in their rightousness render a decision in 2008 that reverses the pattern of the past twenty years, renewal and revival await a long-suffering nation. If however, the people fail to exercise their constitutional and civic duty at the ballot boxes with discretion and wisdom, thus allowing Hillary Rodham Clinton to triumph, only ruination and national demise can follow in her wake."
It will be worth your time to see how the author arrives at this conclusion. You may agree with it or not, however he will make you think about the matter seriously. As we all should.
Post Script: I would have preferred a different title and a different cover. This is a serious book which appears somewhat frivilous in it's appearance. Just my opinion.
Amazon.com
"Women's reproductive rights are under the greatest threat we've faced in the past thirty years," writes Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In The War on Choice, Feldt describes the right-wing campaign to end reproductive choice and warns women who value reproductive rights that "zealous, noisy, persistent extremists" and "arrogant" politicians are eager and able to return women to "the stifling culture of the 1950s" when abortion was illegal and sometimes fatal. Feldt--who has come a long way since she got pregnant at 15 and married her high school boyfriend because she saw no other option--presents an disturbing array of anti-choice and, indeed, anti-women quotes and activities from right-wing politicians, legislators, and activists. Her aim is to "open our eyes and mouths" and teach readers how reproductive rights are being chipped away and will ultimately be chopped down if action isn't taken. She presents convincing arguments that not only are legal abortions threatened, but also the rights to contraception and pregnancy-prevention education. She offers dozens of specific actions that women can take to mobilize pro-choice. Recommended both for women who remember life before reproductive freedom and younger women who take this freedom for granted. -- Joan Price
Book Description
Accessible and impassioned, here is an eye-opening look at the right wing strategy to reverse the gains American women have made over the past 50 years.
The War on Choice chronicles the actions being taken at the highest levels of government to turn back the clock on women's rights.
With the White House acting in anti-choice lockstep with the majorities in both House and Senate, religious extremists are now in key decision-making posts, our federal judiciary is filled with recent appointees whose values are drastically out of step with the pro-choice sentiments of the majority of the American people, abstinence-only sex education is now the rule, ideology has trumped science in domestic and global health policy, and the Supreme Court balance in favor of reproductive freedoms is perilously close to toppling. But while many of the individual facts are known, no one until now has connected all the dots and drawn the Big Picture that shows exactly how radical and how successful this quiet revolution has been.
Judge by judge, law by law, and appointee by appointee,
The War on Choice speaks the truth about what is happening, and also tells the stories of some of the women whose lives have been affected by these court decisions and federal policies. A keen analysis of current events, combined with a hands-on plan of action for those who want to raise their voices in protest, this book will be riveting reading.
And there is no one better equipped to write about the insidious, step-by step chipping away of rights, or about what we can do to fight back, than Gloria Feldt, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Her thirty years of work with the organization combined with her personal experience - as a woman who came out of the same West Texas political landscape as did George W. Bush but faced a very different economic and social reality as the mother of three children by the age of 20 make her the ideal spokeswoman for those who are alarmed by the current political climate.?
This book will be a wake-up call, describing in jaw-dropping detail the story of what the anti-choice movement is doing to the rights to birth control, abortion and privacy.?
Customer Reviews:
A MUST READ BOOK!!!.......2007-07-07
This is a great book dealing with the abortion debate. It is written by Gloria Feldt, who is the president of Planned Parenthood so of course this book is going to be biased. Of course this is going to be heavily prochoice. This is a great book for people who are undecided or consider themselves pro-choice. It details the attack on a woman's right to choose, their tactics, and what it means to be prochoice. It also focuses on how to fight back, which is very very important for this generation of women. We have become apathetic to the issue. So many pro-choice women out there think their right to choose is sealed in stone. But it is far from that and this book opens up your eyes to it. I like this book because not only does it detail the threat to Roe v Wade but it also gives you ideas/options of how to fight back. A must read for everyone!
DISGRACEFUL.......2006-04-22
This woman doesn't need to practice safe sex. I would guess from seeing her on tv that she never had an opportunity. Her views are not mainstream despite her wishes to 'fit in' and define morals. I glanced at this book and content and she if forceful and adamant about her views. Not an open-minded lady rather highly-opinionated, ruthless provocateur woman's libber. A disgrace to feminity and society..
Keep your religion off my uterus, thank you........2006-01-25
Excellent book. It explains why women need to have the right to choose. It's not about religion. It's not as if Planned Parenthood is some evil demonic organization out to dismember "babies" as sacrifices to the devil. It's about giving women who are young, scared, alone, raped, molested, abused, whose birth control has failed, who medically or emotionally or mentally or for SOME reason can't have babies, the choice. It's about giving a woman the right to decide what she has in her body. And I'm sorry, but a zygote is not the same as a full grown adult, or even a newborn baby, as it's just a mass of cells with the potential for human life. But every egg and every sperm also has that potential: should we call people who menstruate or masturbate murderers, as well?
The fact of the matter is, people don't want women to have choice because of religion. They make up all the psudeo-scientific sounding reasons and excuses, even going so far as to invent medical conditions supposedly associated with abortion, not to have the choice, but let's face it: it's a thin veil for religious doctrine. This book exposes the lies and religious propaganda of the pro-life segment, and they really dislike that. They would just love for everyone to wait until marriage to have sex, and to only have sex for procreation, because you know, that's what it was like before birth control and abortion, right? Wrong. I could go on and on.. But this book provides a much better overview of the absurdity which is the anti-choice movement than I could ever hope to. Get it. Read it. Take action. Before women are consigned to be slaves to their biological functions, before the right gets their way and outlaws abortion and possibly birth control, before we are, once again, considered nothing more than biological baby machines.
repugnant.......2005-08-13
We all know someone who cannot be reasoned with. Someone who, having had evidence put to them, refuses to acknowledge said evidence and falls back on tired bromides as if the other person had never spoken at all. When confronted with such a person, one is shocked at how disconnected they are from reality - the mind reels as if they had denied the existence of gravity. Well, Gloria Feldt is just such a person. Perhaps it's that she's in way over her head when it comes to law. Perhaps it's that she's too close to her subject. Perhaps it's that she's not terribly bright. Whatever the reason, her book is utter claptrap and nonsense. Look, I actually support strong abortion rights and would oppose any effort to weaken Roe v. Wade. But our side can do quite a bit better than books like Feldt's. You'd be better off looking to your cat for analysis of the issue than this "author."
Distasteful diatribe against the average American.......2005-08-10
A casual read of this book conjures up the question: what type of person could have such a despicable and distorted opinion of life and values that most Americans hold important to themselves and their families? Having just seen this woman on O'Reilly, my picture of this despicable person was confirmed. She had her own agenda and totally disregarded the topic of conversation and failed to answer any questions she was asked. She forced herself and her attitudes upon the television audience much like she attempted to force her opinions upon the readers. She would not shut up and allow others to share their opinions. In her personal life, the subject of abortion or anti-abortion should not be an issue at all since I believe she is one person practicing abstinence that is certainly not by choice.
Book Description
"Well written and draws on a variety of primary source material. . . . The book adds to the continuing study of women pilots in World War II."
—H-Net Book Review
"An excellent study. . . its grounding in feminist history and methodology are timely and welcome."
—American Historical Review
"Merryman's work has been hailed as a fresh, astute, analysis of the WASP program. The book is well written and draws on a variety of primary source material including, military documents, interviews with former WASPs, newspapers and articles and Jacqueline Cochran's private papers."
—Minerva
"Merryman has assembled a formidable study of these women pilots using recently declassified government documents, as well as interviews with surviving WASP personnel."
—Feminist Collections
"Clipped Wings lets us peer into the political cockpit of militarized gender construction. I've learned a lot from this fine book."
—Cynthia Enloe
author of Does Khaki Still Become You?
During World War II, all branches of the military had women's auxiliaries. Only the Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) program, however, was comprised entirely of women who flew dangerous missions more commonly associated with and desired by men.
Within military hierarchies, the World War II pilot was projected as the most dashing and desirable of servicemen. "Flyboys" were the daring elite of the United States military. More than the WACs (Army), WAVES (Navy), SPARS (Coast Guard), or Women Marines, the WASPs directly challenged these assumptions of male supremacy in wartime culture. WASPs flew the fastest fighter planes and heaviest bombers; they test-piloted experimental models and worked in the development of weapons systems. Yet the WASPs were the only women's auxiliary within the armed services of World War II that was not militarized.
In Clipped Wings, Molly Merryman draws upon military documents (many of which were declassified only in the 1980s), congressional records, and interviews with the women who served as WASPs during World War II, to trace the history of the over 1,000 pilots who served their country as the first women to fly military planes. She examines the social pressures which culminated in their disbandment in 1944—even though a wartime need for their services still existed—and documents their struggles and eventual success, in 1977, to gain military status and receive veterans benefits.
Customer Reviews:
The women pilots of WW II are the greatest........2002-09-30
CLipped Wings tells of a situation which should not be a surprise when women only got the right to vote around the time of WW I. Here were women, many of them, living through a time
when they had no voting rights, take the call to help defend
this country.. Some of them like Aline Rhonie Hofheimer of Warren, NJ decided that she too wanted to help. Many of these
women were well to do but had a big purpose. Aline was one of the older ones being born in 1909. She was the only one to fly both in the WAFS and the ATA.. or so I'm told. In any event,
I can not get enough of books about these women and Clipped Wings
,by telling this story has to be considered a gift from the past.
Wonderful and informative reclamation.......1999-06-30
This is the best of the books on the WASP program to be published to date. Relying on first-hand interviews and recently declassified documents, Clipped Wings consistently demonstrates that the US failed this group of dedicated veterans.
Of special importance is its amplication of feminist military critiques to an actual branch of the military, proving what before had been strictly theory. The best chapters are those that include numerous examples of media sexism and the ridiculous thought patterns of Congress--two elements of culture that unfortunately still impact women who enter male-dominated fields.
A history of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII.......1998-11-14
*Clipped Wings* is a history of the disbanding of the U.S. Army Air Force Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II. Unfortunately, *Cliiped Wings* is dull reading, academic in the bad sense, which obscures the truth in two or three places in an effort to emphasize the sexism that existed in the 1940's.
The best book I have read about the Women Airforce Service Pilots is *Those Wonderful Women in Their Flying Machines,* by Sally Van Wagenen Kell. Second best is Marianne Verges' *On Silver Wings*.
*Clipped Wings* falis to point out that two women members of Congress, Clare Booth Luce and Margaret Chase Smith, voted to kill the WASPs in 1944. *Clipped Wings* also fails to say, as Marianne Verges demonstrates, that WASP leader Jacky Cochran did not do the best possible job of prolonging the existence of the WASP organization.
In addition, on page 26 of *Clipped Wings*, the author claims that "...WASPs [were used] for top secret missions involved with the Manhattan project," but the book does not substantiate this claim.
Finally, the last chapter of *Clipped Wings* is laden with turgid academese about "hegemony" and "gendering," which in regard to sexism in the 1940's, only belabors the obvious.
Average customer rating:
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Days of Discontent: American Women and Right-Wing Politics, 1933-1945
June Melby Benowitz
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The Origins of Women's Activism: New York and Boston, 1797-1840
ASIN: 087580294X |
Customer Reviews:
Female fascists redux.......2004-05-11
Agnes Waters, a prominent far right wing agitator of the 1930s and 1940s, had a specific plan of action in mind when she told her supporters that America needed a revolution of mothers to overthrow the Roosevelt regime and his New Deal. "Let's keep a clothesline handy in every little back yard to hang the traitors, or a gun. And let's all of us be known as pistol-packin' mamas." Historian June Melby Benowitz documents the activities of Agnes Waters and other female extremists in "Days of Discontent: American Women and Right-Wing Politics, 1933-1945." The book presents two case studies of far right women, Elizabeth Dilling and the lesser known Grace Wick, before moving on to examine the underlying issues concerning far right females in the 1930s and 1940s. Subsequent chapters trace the development of the mothers' movements, other women leaders, and the activities of these groups and protesters after the Second World War.
Far right women emerged from a tradition of political and social activity stretching back into the early nineteenth century. Women had always been involved in the abolitionist, temperance, and purity crusades of earlier eras. Once they earned the right to vote, disaffection about the process along with the realization that a ballot oftentimes failed to achieve desired results presented women with a quandary, one they resolved by once again falling back on their traditional roles as mothers and as keepers of the country's moral strength. And they continued to form groups in the 1920s, groups that responded to the burning issues of the day. Prohibition, immigration, voting, and declining public morals infuriated millions of traditional women who thought that America was sinking into a cesspool of immorality. It was from this tradition, and from some of the specific groups of the 1920s, that the far right females emerged to rail against blacks, Jews, Roosevelt, and the war.
Women moved to the far right for different reasons. Professional agitator Elizabeth Dilling began her crusade against communism because of a trip she took to the Soviet Union in the 1930s. She saw neglected churches, starving children, and heard sinister plans of a communist invasion of the United States during this visit. Eventually, Dilling linked her anti-communist struggle to a hatred of Jews. Grace Wick, on the other hand, moved into the ranks of the right wing extremists after she lost her job during the Great Depression. Always a political activist, Wick initially welcomed the arrival of Roosevelt in the White House. When the New Deal failed to work for her personally, she turned on the president with a venom instantly recognizable to students of the far right. Wick blamed "Jewish communists" for her misfortune and began corresponding with other extremist leaders. By using Dilling and Wick as case studies, Benowitz shows how different personalities subscribing to different issues could arrive at the same political views.
The issues that drove thousands of women into the arms of the far right were numerous and far ranging. The author employs several sources, including women's magazines and letters written to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, to distill female concerns of the period. One magazine ran a piece about women's lives in Nazi Germany, possibly leading some readers to conclude that life in a totalitarian society offered certain benefits for traditional mothers. Other articles raised debate about the New Deal, the internal threat of communism, anti-Semitism, Christian evangelicalism, immigration, racial integration, and birth control. The public forums these magazines provided forced many women to take positions on these issues or to redefine their previous attitudes. Those women who held extremist positions built associations outside of the mainstream to air their views.
Women like Dilling, Agnes Waters, Lyrl Clark Van Hyning, and Catharine Curtis formed numerous organizations to promote their personal opinions. Benowitz defines at least some of these figures as feminists, as women who sought to expand the economic, social, and political spheres of women beyond the home. The author, while cognizant of the extreme anti-Semitic and racist propositions of these individuals, looks beyond the heated rhetoric to argue that these women served an important function. Just as mainstream and progressive women expanded the roles of their sex, so did far right women. Benowitz goes so far as to propose that Dilling, Clark Van Hyning, and Waters laid the groundwork that future female conservatives would use to air their grievances. Most of the conservatives to come completely rejected the extreme views of their predecessors. Phyllis Schlafly, for example, rejected these mothers' anti-Jewish attitudes while organizing her movements using similar techniques.
A central problem of Benowitz's book concerns feminism, specifically what does or does not constitute feminism and how said term applies to these extremist activists. While almost all of these figures worked closely with like-minded men, they often refused to form concrete ties with male dominated organizations. Keeping Gerald L.K. Smith, Father Coughlin, and other prominent far right men separate from female movements does resemble in more than one way a decidedly feminist mindset. So does the mothers' belief that their groups gave women an outlet for protecting distinctly female prerogatives such as motherhood and homemaking. Benowitz believes that far right women ultimately presented an exception to feminism because they only accepted white, Christian followers who were willing to accept without question the viewpoints of their leaders. Historian Glen Jeansonne in his treatment of female extremists presents a more compelling argument in favor of defining these women as feminists. He questions the very meaning of feminism and calls for a reassessment of the term that will embrace these women. Ultimately, June Melby Benowitz's book is a welcome addition to what was once a little understood facet of 1930s and 1940s protest. Certainly, other books on this fascinating topic will soon follow.
Book Description
The Soviet Union was the first nation to allow women pilots to fly combat missions. During World War II the Red Air Force formed three all-female units--grouped into separate fighter, dive bomber, and night bomber regiments--while also recruiting other women to fly with mostly male units. Their amazing story, fully recounted for the first time by Reina Pennington, honors a group of fearless and determined women whose exploits have not yet received the recognition they deserve.
Pennington chronicles the creation, organization, and leadership of these regiments, as well as the experiences of the pilots, navigators, bomb loaders, mechanics, and others who made up their ranks, all within the context of the Soviet air war on the Eastern Front. These regiments flew a combined total of more than 30,000 combat sorties, produced at least thirty Heroes of the Soviet Union, and included at least two fighter aces.
Among their ranks were women like Marina Raskova, the "Soviet Amelia Earhart," a renowned aviator who persuaded Stalin in 1941 to establish the all-women regiments; the daredevil "night witches" who flew ramshackle biplanes on nocturnal bombing missions over German frontlines; and fighter aces like Liliia Litviak, whose twelve "kills" are largely unknown in the West. Here, too, is the story of Aleksandr Gridnev, a fighter pilot twice arrested by the Soviet secret police before he was chosen to command the women's fighter regiment.
Pennington draws upon personal interviews and the Soviet archives to detail the recruitment, training, and combat lives of these women. Deftly mixing anecdote with analysis, her work should find a wide readership among scholars and buffs interested in the history of aviation, World War II, or the Russian military, as well as anyone concerned with the contentious debates surrounding military and combat service for women.
This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.
Customer Reviews:
Women in Combat?! How can that be?.......2007-10-16
I recently had the occasion to read Dr. Reina Pennington's book, Wings, Women, and War: Soviet Airwomen in World War II Combat. It was required reading for a masters program I am completing. I had my doubts about the value of this book based on many prior textbook experiences. I was extremely surprised with this one.
The book was part of a class on race, gender and sexuality issues in the military. My male sensitivities and defenses were heightened when first opening this book, but my curiosity convinced me to proceed (as well as the required reading part!). It convinced me that gender issues are important when it comes to studying things military. Dr. Pennington gave a face to and personified the women warriors and their male counterparts in the air force of the Soviet Union during World War II. This is something she accomplished while at the same time supporting her academic theoretical work this book represents. The book reads like a novel and draws the reader in to its stories about these very brave and determined Russian women. The stories are often funny; very funny. It proved to me that Russians during the war were people just like us in their humanity.
If you are unconvinced of women as warriors or want to understand something about how the Soviet Union treated women, recruited women and encounter their successes and their failures, then this book is what you need.
Dr. Pennington provides a remarkable bibliography including archival materials, correspondence and personal interviews. She spent time in Russia following the fall of the Soviet Union when war time documents and records became available. One thing that you might not find answered or answered to your satisfaction is the fundamental question about why the Soviets allowed women into combat. Like all the other belligerents involved in the war, the Soviets resisted this at first. Just like the others the Soviets dismantled their women warriors after the war. If it were not for scholastic efforts like Dr. Pennington's the efforts of women like Evgeniia Prokhorova and Liliia Latviak would be forever forgotten.
Pennington's book is solidly researched, reads like a novel.......2002-04-09
For most Americans World War II is John Wayne, Tom Hanks, D-Day, and Pearl Harbor. The plucky British gave a hand now and then and the ungrateful French needed us once more to pull their goose-fat from the fire. Oh yes, it snowed a lot on the Eastern Front. Yet, more than a cursory examination of the Second World War shows even first year history students that the Atlantic Theatre was very much a Russo-German War, with the Western Front playing a secondary role. The Russian story of the Great Patriotic War has not imprinted itself on the American popular imagination. Even less known is the role played in that great struggle by Russia's women.
Over 800,000 women served their Motherland in World War II, nearly 200,000 of them decorated. 89 of those women eventually received Russia's highest award, the Hero of the Soviet Union. Reina Pennington's book tells the story of Russia's airwomen during World War II with the passion of a best selling novel. Yet, the well documented footnotes and thorough Appendix attest to the research that has gone into this scholarly work.
Pennington's book focuses on three female regiments formed by Soviet hero, Marina Raskova, but also gives insight into women who served in mostly male regiments. She provides a gripping account that will satisfy those hearing about the USSR's airwomen for the first time, as well as adding new information about command struggles within the fighter regiment.
The story of 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, staffed through the entire war completely with women pilots, navigators, mechanics and commanding officers, makes any current debates about the suitability of women in combat seem like a convocation of the flat earth society. These women settled that debate long ago. Pennington quotes Soviet test pilot and HSU Mark Gallai on what it was like for the women bombers to fly their missions in the outdated biplanes to which they were assigned:
"It means coming under fire from anti-aircraft weapons of every calibre...it means enemy night fighters, blinding searchlights and often bad weather, too; low cloud, fog, snow, ice, and gales that throw a light aircraft from one wingtip to the other...all this in a Po-2, which is small, slow and as easily set alight as a match."
Yet, these women, averaging 5-15 flights a night(more in the winter, less in the summer), surviving on 2-4 hours of sleep a day for four years, managed to fly over 24,000 sorties, drop 23,000 tons of bombs, and account for 23 Hero of the Soviet Union awards.
Up to this point English language readers interested in the heroic stories of these women have had the excellent works of Kazimiera Cottam ("Women in Air War," "Women in War and Resistance")and the interesting interviews conducted by Anne Noggle ("A Dance with Death"). Yet, as important as these works are, none attempts to tell the story of Soviet airwomen as a complete narrative. Pennington weaves the individual tales of these women into a fabric that is compelling in its humanity. Hers is the story of ordinary women in extraordinary times who achieved what today seems impossible. They gave the full measure of their devotion in a valiant fight that deserves to be known. Reina Pennington's "Wings, Women, & War" does honor and justice to the stories of these women.
Wings, Women and War.......2002-01-31
I read this book cover to cover on Friday (in the office, door shut, looking very busy). Living with WW 2 aviation everyday through the collection of fighter aircraft we restore and fly in England, it is easy to become a little blasé about the way people lived their extraordinary lives in that time. This book hauled me right up by the collar all over again.
It is remarkable - the pages turn as easily as reading the most engrossing novel and yet this is clearly a thoroughly researched review of these womens' history. I am utterly impressed. To communicate passion for a subject while speaking with such authority - the authority that can only come with knowing and understanding a subject as well as Pennington does - is so rare.
Having read almost every single book available in the narrow field that covers these Soviet women, I belive this book sets the new benchmark.
If only history could always be communicated like this!
Soviet Airwomen in World War II Combat.......2002-01-06
This is an important book which dispells the usual misconceptions about women in combat in general and Soviet airwomen's contribution in particular. The chapter on Soviet women fighter pilots is especially valuable. Through personal interaction with several surviving former members of the 586th Fighter Regiment, especially its second permanent commander Aleksandr Gridnev, Pennington has gained a lot of inside knowledge pertaining to this regiment, the most controversial of the three combat units formed by Marina Raskova, the "Soviet Amelia Earhart." This reader was surprised to encounter six misspelled Russian and Ukrainian place names in the book. In addition, the name of the first chief of staff in the 125th "M.M. Raskova" Borisov Dive Bomber Regiment has been rendered as "Militsiya Kazarinova" instead of "Militsa Kazarinova." However, these misspellings can still be corrected using an errata slip affixed to the inside of the back cover of the book.
new material, eagerly-awaited!.......2001-12-30
Probably the best-known female combatants on the Eastern Front are the three aviation regiments formed by Marina Raskova, aka the "Russian Earhart". During the past several decades, histories, memoirs, novels, photos, and films about these remarkable heroines have become available worldwide. Even so, Reina Pennington has uncovered some new and exciting material for this eagerly-awaited book! "Wings, Women, and War", the latest volume in the Modern War Series, contains a scholarly examination of the training and performance of Soviet airwomen. Of particular relevance to current US military gender-issues is updated information on female interaction with male counterparts and commanders. The 46th Guards Night Bombers were entirely segregated, while the 125th Guards Dive Bombers had integrated ground-personnel and tailgunners, and a male CO. In the 586th Fighter regiment, one squadron which early tranferred to elite, predominantly-male VVS units was permanently replaced by a male squadron. Therefore, objective statistics are available, and comparisons can be made of performances and unit cohesion under sustained combat conditions. Pennington dispels, once and for all, persistent Western myth surrounding the formation of Soviet female aviation regiments: that is, that women were recruited due to desperate shortages of male pilots, or that they were intended only for propaganda. In fact, the female volunteers went into circuit during the period of German air-superiority when Soviet planes, not pilots, were scarce. And though female ACEs were exploited by the front-line press, there was very little coverage otherwise of the Raskova regiments in either Russian or foreign newspapers. Particularly so of the 586th Fighter regiment, which following its formation and for years afterward has been shrouded in controversy. That PVO (Air Defense) unit was plagued by the problematic and incompetent command of the sisters Kazarinova. Although unqualified to fly the regiment's Yak-1's, these VVS officers had been decorated for ominous "unspecified services" during Stalin's military Purges. Distrusted by, yet bitterly envious of their women pilots, the Kazarinovas used their influence for personal revenge against their subordinates. The sisters were eventually replaced by Maj. Aleksandr Gridnev, a legitimate aviator who became the target of the Kazarinovas' resentment. Author Pennington obtained Gridnev's unpublished journal, and conducted extensive interviews with him and surviving regimental personnel, which shed fascinating new light on that controversy. These revelations are in themselves worth the purchase of the book! Pennington also interviewed veterans of the 46th and 125th Guards, but their excerpts and historical backgrounds have a familiar quality. In cross-referencing footnotes and bibliography, it is clear that much of this material's sources had been previously researched for K. J. Cottam's "Women in War and Resistance" and earlier publications. Other new material includes detailed lists of personnel, broken down by regimental assignment, job classification, and gender. "Wings, Women, and War" is a studious, impartial work. As such, it is much less intimate than Cottam's "Women in Air War" and Noggle's "A Dance With Death", which are collections translated from the participants' own words. Thus, all these books complement eachother perfectly, and I recommend them highly for enthusiasts of women's military studies and/or Eastern Front studies!
Average customer rating:
- A rousing story from start to finish
- dynamic depiction of youth, courage and the lessons learned
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Wings, Women and War
Benjamin F. Guiles
Manufacturer: Trafford Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1412009235
Release Date: 2006-06-30 |
Product Description
Sweeping historical novel rich in romance and adventure, about a young pilot from rural America and how the flying, the women and World War Two shaped his character and career.
Customer Reviews:
A rousing story from start to finish.......2007-03-07
Written by Benjamin F. Guiles, Col. USAF Ret., Wings, Women & War is a novel set during and after World War II. Following a young pilot from rural America who learns how to fly the top secret B-29 Strategic Bomber. An exciting chronicle of war, the experience of flying, and unforgettable encounters with women while living life on the edge. Wings, Women & War doesn't end with the close of World War II, but rather follows the growth of the man; it is love, marriage, and the responsibilities of raising a family that bring completeness to his life. Written in first-person perspective, Wings, Women & War is a rousing story from start to finish, that reflects what truly made the Greatest Generation great.
dynamic depiction of youth, courage and the lessons learned.......2004-04-04
visual images, emotional connections, literary accumen and thoughtful topics all come together for the reader to care about the characters. This, I believe is the dream of the author and the joy for the reader. We thank you for guarding our precious freedom so valiantly.
Book Description
THEY WERE THE WOMEN WITH THE RIGHT STUFF.
They were heroic women who came from every corner of the nation and every walk of life: debutantes, teachers, businesswomen, housewives, daughters of farmers, and factory workers. Almost two thousand of them were accepted into the rigorous Army Air Force flight training program and received their wings--flying with the desert sand in their eyes, with ice on their wings, serving side by side with men flyers. Yet for all their daring and commitment, the WASPs still had to battle red tape, jealous insinuations, and political pressure. Still, they flew on, often outclassing their male counterparts in efficiency, reliability, and physical stamina. Their story rings with all the courage, romance, and adventure of the lives these extraordinary women lived.
"Verges brings to life the joy these women found in flying and the dawning realization that women deserved a place in the sky."
--The Dallas Morning News
"Verges gives us the pride, emotion, and struggle of America's first deployment of women aviators."
--Brig. Gen. Wilma L. Vaught
USAF (Retired)
"Inspiring."
--Publishers Weekly
Customer Reviews:
Good Overview.......2000-09-05
Ms. Verges gives a good overview of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II. The book introduces the reader to several women before the United States enter WW II and then follows them through the varied ways they serve their country. Some went to England to fly for the British ATA, some were WAF's, and others became WASP's. She tells how each group was formed and what each group's experiences were. I liked her more objective view. I have like biographies from WASP's and WAF's. This book put all of the groups together in one book.
Average customer rating:
- There needs to be a sequel!!
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A Bucket of Prop Wash: From Poverty to Silver Wings
Gaelord O'Neal
Manufacturer: 1st Books Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 141077001X |
Customer Reviews:
There needs to be a sequel!!.......2003-10-20
Wonderfully written controversial story of one man's experiences during his 30 year career beginning in 1917 during ww1 and continuing through ww2. The untold stories and ones you'd never expect to hear told as the writer saw it.
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