Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Women of War:
If you are going to switch sides, go all the way.
Quick synopsis:
A look at four Italian women who joined the Resistance from German control in World War II.
Fact for Non-History People:
There were roughly 200,000 Italian partisans in World War II.
Fact for History Nerds:
About 70,000 Italians were killed for being involved with the Resistance.
My Take on Women of War:
Yeah, what about Italy?
There are numerous books about spies running around France in World War II, risking their lives, and doing amazing things. The invasion of Italy is often seen as a sideshow for the main event at Normandy. That’s not even my interpretation. Many American leaders said almost exactly that. As such, there is precious little about this theater beyond some higher-level (but still excellent!) military books. Suzanne Cope is here to bring some forgotten stories to light with Women of War.
The book follows four female partisans in different parts of Italy as Mussolini’s government falls and zee Germans show up in force. As expected, this is a sizeable book to follow all four women and clocks in at just a hair over 400 pages. Their experiences run the gamut from assassinations, couriering (just learned the verb of that word), and some light explosions. Just kidding, they got real big!
I learned quite a lot which I haven’t found anywhere else. I would recommend to readers not to expect a deep psychological profile on each woman. Cope has so much ground to cover that it’s just not possible from a book length perspective (and probably documentation perspective as well). This is certainly not a textbook style of writing, though. Cope knows when to take a quick detour to highlight how the choices of each women, which are brutal at times, leads to them changing as people. Her approach allows for the reader to have a much wider view of the war in Italy, and it is fantastic. I highly recommend it.
(This book was provided as a review copy by Dutton Books.)
Verdict:
A great World War II story you haven’t heard before. Buy it here!
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