The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line
Untold Stories of the Women Who Changed the Course of World War II
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4.0 • 19 Ratings
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
For fans of Radium Girls and history and WWII buffs, The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line takes you inside the lives and experiences of 15 unknown women heroes from the Greatest Generation, the women who served, fought, struggled, and made things happen during WWII—in and out of uniform—for theirs is a legacy destined to embolden generations of women to come.
From daring spies to audacious pilots, from innovative scientists to indomitable resistance fighters, these extraordinary women stepped out of line and into history, forever altering the world's landscape. This page-turning narrative, crafted with meticulous historical accuracy by retired U.S. Army Major General Mari K. Eder, provides a fresh perspective on the integral roles that women played during WWII.
• Liane B. Russell fled Austria with nothing and later became a renowned U.S. scientist whose research on the effects of radiation on embryos made a difference to thousands of lives.
• Gena Turgel was a prisoner who worked in the hospital at Bergen-Belsen and cared for the young Anne Frank, who was dying of typhus. Gena survived and went on to write a memoir and spent her life educating children about the Holocaust.
• Ida and Louise Cook were British sisters who repeatedly smuggled out jewelry and furs and served as sponsors for refugees, and they also established temporary housing for immigrant families in London.
Whether you're a history enthusiast, a lover of powerful women's stories, or an avid reader of WWII nonfiction, The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line is a must-read and a poignant testament to the forgotten women who stepped up when the world needed them most.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Eder (American Cyberspace) profiles women who broke gender barriers to help the Allied war effort during WWII in this breezy history. Her subjects include tennis player Alice Marble, who won 18 Grand Slam championships in the 1930s and, after her husband was killed in action over Germany, helped U.S. Army intelligence to obtain Nazi financial records from her former lover, a Swiss banker. Journalist Ruth Gruber guided nearly 1,000 Jewish war refugees to safety in the U.S. in 1944, while opera-loving British sisters Ida and Louise Cook helped 29 people escape Nazi Germany before war was declared. Polish American spy Stephanie Czech Rader, who gathered intelligence of Polish and Soviet security services in postwar Poland, was posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit in 2016. Cartographer Marion Armstrong Frieswyk created three-dimensional topographical maps to aid U.S. military commanders in planning troop movements. Eder notes that though many of her subjects "shied away from medals and recognition," they influenced the desegregation of the U.S. armed forces and served as role models for younger women in the military and intelligence services. This brisk and informative survey is a worthy tribute to the trailblazing women of WWII.
