Recommended Reading: Women in WWII

I don't usually watch much TV.  Downton Abby is over now so I am back to watching things on Hulu once in awhile. Lately I have been enjoying the costumes and girl power storyline of "Agent Carter".  Thinking of Peggy's story got me wondering about the roles of female spies in WWII.  I ended up reading a bunch of books about WWII. I already talked about a couple of them here.

In the last couple weeks I read these 4 books:
1.  Women Heroes of WWII  by Kathryn Atwood -- This is a wonderful non-fiction book that tells the stories of 26 women spies in WWII.  There were so many women involved in counter intelligence work during WWII.  I had no idea the intricate webs of spy networks going on behind the scenes in occupied Europe. They were feeding information to the British and helping pilots/soldiers caught behind enemy lines escape. The book is organized by country and includes stories of women from France, Belgium, Poland, Italy, and Czech Republic.

2. Women Heroes of WWI by Kathryn Atwood -- After I read about the women in WWII, I had to get Ms. Atwood's other book and see what happened in WWI.  It was interesting to compare the situations in the 2 wars. The WWI stories are organized into stories about spies, medics, and soldiers. Yes, some of the women were soldiers! The Russians had a whole unit of women fighting.  One of their jobs was to shame the discouraged male soldiers into battle by being heroic themselves.

3. Journey to Topaz by Yoshiko Uchida-- is about Japanese internment in the US after Pearl Harbor was bombed.  I enjoyed this story because it is told through the eyes of an eleven year old girl named Yuki, and it is based on the author's own personal experiences.  I am hoping to read it with big sis A as part of our study of WWII.

4.  The All Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg -- this book is by the same gal that wrote Fried Green Tomatoes and the tone is similar. The dialogue includes fun southern and midwestern speech patterns, but BEWARE the loads of cursing.  It is not a good book to listen to in the car with children. The story follows a family of 4 girls 1 boy (like someone else I know!) during WWII.  Three of the girls become WASPs (pilots for the military). It is funny and surprising and heartfelt.  I loved it aside from the foul language.