General Interestto historians and also those that do
not fit any of the listed categories
Scroll down the page to read about these and other books
reviewed on
women's history
Jane Conway: Mary Borden: A Woman of
Two Wars
This is the story of Ma(r)y Borden, one of those dynamic women who
managed to flourish in the male dominated world of the early 20th
century. Borden had been given a huge headstart as the daughter of a
millionaire from Chicago and this she used to the full. A writer of
books achieving both popular and critical acclaim this all gave her
an entre into British and French society both before and after the
First World War. Her US birth and (second) marriage to a British
politician ensured equal social acclaim across the Atlantic. The
book is illustrated with many useful photos including several
society magazine shots showing her in the 1920's as quite the
society woman and hostess.
However there was more to Borden than this. She was a Chevalier of
the French Legion of Honour and bearer of the Croix de Guerre
(Petain himself gave her the additional Palm to the award),
presented for her war work in setting up and managing hospitals very
close to the Front and also those with the lowest mortality rates.
It is claimed her Great War hospitals were the ones of choice for
wounded French "l'hospital le plus chic sur tout le front". She
repeated this war work in the Second World War and continued to
write successfully until late in life.
Conway provides a literary commentary on her books as they were
published, attempting to link them into Borden's experiences, but
for historians what is most interesting are her sections on Borden's
war work. In 1914-18 The British (despite the Nightingale
experience) appeared more resistant to having a dominant woman
managing field hospitals. The French support for Borden was fully
vindicated by results. I was also interested to read that she used
innovatory portable hospitals with reinforced windows to withstand
blast damage that could be dismantled and rebuilt in a matter of
hours. (You can hear an extractherefrom
Borden's memoirs, "The Forbidden Zone" describing
hospital conditions). Nonetheless, with the awakening of the need
today to care so totally for war wounded it is depressing to read of
the relatively basic provision in the earlier war especially when
what we are reading about is probably of the best care available.
The section on her work in World War II is even more historically
interesting. Leading the Hadfield-Spears mobile ambulance unit (an
early version of the Korean war M*A*S*H units) she managed front
line Franco-British nursing care in France, Italy, north Africa and
the Middle East. In this war she found herself more involved in the
political machinations of the Franco-allied relationship. Conway is
perceptive on the chaos and amateurism shown during the Fall of
France as well as the in-fighting involving De Gaulle (which
ultimately sees the disbanding of the unit in 1945). Conway notes
how Borden's Journey Down a Blind Alley, published in
1946, records the history of the medical unit and her disillusion
with the French failure to put up an effective resistance to the
German invasion and occupation.
It is hard though to escape the paradoxes of her existence. Living a
privileged lifestyle she was critical of the British Labour Party
for not doing enough to relieve poverty. Given the hectic nature of
her life it is clear that she spent little of what would be called
"quality time" with her young family despite fighting a long and
(clearly for them) disturbing battle with her first husband for
custody of them. The author could perhaps have given this more
emphasis, especially regarding the impact of the suicide of a
daughter which is dismissed in a few sentences. A more direct
approach at times to some of the paradoxes outlined above would also
help ensure that Borden could be seen more clearly in the context
and standards of her time if not those of today. It is these
contrasts that make understanding the assertive and successful women
of the early 20th century (as well as today?) so interesting.
Jane Conway provides a clear and accessible description of the
Borden life and shows how Borden made much of her privileged
position using her undoubted courage and management skills. I found
myself increasingly involved in the narrative as the story rapidly
progressed, especially beyond the 1930's. In the last few years many
unsung stories of the role played by key women in both world wars
have become more public. Conway presents us here with the life of
one such woman whose work and enthusiasm deserves to be remembered
by a clear biography such as this. I would recommend this book to be
read in particular by students of social as well as women's history.
Dec '03 (****)
Initially started as a holiday read and expecting to read of a weak,
dissolute queen this biography (used as the basis for the weakish Sofia
Coppola movie) soon began to reveal Marie Antoinette in a somewhat
different light. Yes, much of her pre revolutionary time in France was
spent out of touch with the country at large and largely oblivious to
the real costs of the royal establishment. Yes, she was also rather
naive and had a simplistic view of the socio-political structure.
However, Fraser shows this to be as much a result of upbringing and
Habsburg dynastic demands as because of flaws of character. Post 1789
sees a tougher, more considered MA emerge, a victim of the revolutionary
pressures produced by the Ancien Regime of which she was part.
Interestingly Fraser draws attention to the misogyny of the Jacobins as
an element of the seemingly unjust treatment & trial of MA compared with
Loius XVI. This is not so much a sympathetic account as one which makes
much use of broad context to make the position of MA more
understandable. Sept 2008 (***)
Jessica Warner: Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of
Reason
Warner writes about the English (London?) gin "epidemic" of the early 18th
century. As a piece of social history it is of value, well supported and argued
(perhaps too drily though - this has the air of an academic work tweaked to do a
Sobel "Longtitude" for a mass market). What is most surprising though is the way
the argument shows that the issue was one focussed on women, and that it was the
poorest women who emerge as the biggest victims economically as well as socially
from the expansion of gin drinking as well as from its ever tighter control
(they did most of the streetside selling). The big distillers/publicans were
men.... they continued to survive, and were not locked up to the same extent.
Dec '07 (***)
Sarah
Helm: A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII
This story of Vera Atkins, responsible for sending British female secret agents
to Nazi France and her cathartic efforts to find out what happened to those who
did not return is a compelling, well crafted read. The Atkins life is full of
twists and page turning mysteries.However in the process Helm emphasizes the
bravery of those sent to France and the amateur incompetence of those who sent
them. Equally, the transparent nature of the books structure serves as an
excellent example of how history is laboriously researched and worked upon using
a variety of sources – in this case very much like a detective thriller. March
´07 (****)
Antonia
Fraser: Love and Louis XIV
Fraser provides a feminine (as opposed to feminist) look at the reign of
Louis XIV. Although it presents an interesting glimpse into the court
life of the Sun King, it also reveals the dissolute and egocentric
lifestyle of a royalty and nobility whose existence depended on the
finances taken from the large tax base provided by a wealthy, absolutist
state and from subjects they had little, or wished to have little in
common with. Two points emerge ultimately: a better understanding of the
future revolutionaries of 1789 and an intriguing glimpse of what might
have been in England had such absolutism not been halted in 1642.
Jan'07 (***)
Anonymous:
A Woman in Berlin
This diary, written by a Berlin woman in her 30's during the fall of Berlin
illustrates clearly and forcefully the real meaning of defeat. Interesting
asides on the nature of the Russian conquerors: raised in a society where they
received but could not choose they had little concept of "value", even of booty.
Most of all it reveals the commonplace nature & acceptance of rape or of
attaching oneself to an Ivan lover - for protection and survival. A very human
diary of survival in year zero. Sept '06 (****)
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