THE WOMEN WHO WROTE THE WAR

A worthwhile, impressively researched history of the women correspondents who chronicled WWII. Sorel (co-author, with Edward Sorel, of First Encounters: Meetings with Memorable People, 1994) tells the trail-blazing stories of some two dozen women journalists who covered US military operations during WWII. Although these women faced the same dangerous conditions as their male counterparts, they also confronted the military’s patronizing attitudes about women. In one memorable wartime example, General George Patton delivered an expletive-laden lecture to his staff officers, interspersing his tirade with sheepish apologies to the “lady” reporters in the back. Much of the book describes the resourcefulness of these women in circumventing the military’s endless restrictions. Marguerite Higgins bent the rules to become the first reporter to detail the sickening horrors of Dachau, arriving at the camp within minutes of its liberation. “Dickey” Chapelle covered the carnage on Iwo Jima, getting shot at by the enemy and reprimanded by the US military. Martha Gellhorn had an especially rocky war, covering events in Europe and Asia with her philandering husband, Ernest Hemingway. Despite the risks, these woman forced their way to the front lines. Catherine Coyne’s account of being at ground zero while Nazi bombers attacked a bridge is simply unforgettable. Janet Flanner, the famous “Genàt” of the New Yorker, brilliantly depicts the liberation of Paris. Sorel has a gargantuan task in attempting to capture the experiences of so many different women in so many different places, from North Africa to China to Normandy. At moments, her wide-ranging narrative suffers from a lack of depth. The famously tempestuous relationship between Gellhorn and Hemingway, for example, is described only briefly, as is Lee Miller’s friendship with Pablo Picasso. Any one of these fearless women could be the subject of an entire book. An ambitious and entertaining examination of a neglected side of American military history: the war within a war waged by women journalists. (b&w photos, not seen)