Book 11 toppled – a history of women, uniforms and war

Kate Adie is one of our best-known journalists and in that work she has covered more than a few wars. Her book Corsets to Camouflage is a study of women in the uniformed services in the twentieth century. It’s a book that I was sent as part of my monthly used book subscription and decided to read it because it was an interesting look at something you don’t often see discussed – in my youth I was keen on joining one of the armed services myself and both I and the world should be very grateful that I never took that idea further forward !

My copy of this book is signed by the author which is rather nice. I don’t particularly collect signed books but they are interesting to have. The person who took it to a book signing must have asked for it to be inscribed to Jennifer and Jennifer has obviously now passed it on for others to read – I own many books inscribed to people I don’t know and shall never meet !

This book is European focused with Britain being the main subject of the narrative. The author starts by considering the situation at the beginning of the twentieth century and showing how women were already present in war zones in many different guises (see here for a previous book I have read on this subject). During the course of the book she examines how women’s contribution became formalised, then regulated and finally assimilated with that of the men, although her final chapter is about the areas of activity where women are not yet accepted. She looks at nursing, flying, the alternative war services such as the ATS and the Land Army, intelligence work, and the army, navy and air force. Occasionally, she uses examples from other European countries who did things differently.

To illustrate the changes over the years the author spends time discussing the uniforms that women wore. She looks at when they became mandatory and how they related to those of men. The history of clothes is not a particular interest of mine but this was interesting and relevant to the whole discussion.

I did enjoy this book and I am glad that I read it. I thought that the author showed the advances in the acceptance of women well and also how the prevailing stereotypes of what women should and could do limited progress on occasion. The book was enhanced with stories of individual women and what they did, many of whom had been interviewed by the author. There were also places where the author shared some of her own personal experiences as a woman on or near the frontline.

I don’t intend to keep this book and will pass it on – perhaps a Jennifer will find it !!