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Catlady · 11-20-2017, 09:17 PM

In a departure from my usual reading, I listened to five nonfiction books, all of them about women.

Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David Von Drehle, narrated by Barrett Whitener
As a movement to unionize was gaining momentum, women workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, most of them young underpaid immigrants, perished because of locked doors (locked to prevent pilfering of a few dollars' worth of supplies) and the absence of safety precautions as fire swept the building. Straightforward account, good job of explaining the historical and social context.
The Great Divorce: A Nineteenth-Century Mother's Extraordinary Fight Against Her Husband, the Shakers, and Her Times by Ilyon Woo, narrated by Suzanne Toren
Since a woman was defined by her husband and had no rights in law, when Eunice Chapman's husband joined the Shaker sect, he took their three children with him--they were his property, after all. Eunice fought a lengthy legal battle that involved special legislation to force her husband and the Shakers to return them to her. Interesting account of a determined woman.
We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of the Women Trapped on Bataan by Elizabeth M. Norman, narrated by Dina Pearlman
Military nurses in the Philippines went from living in paradise to living in hell after Pearl Harbor and the fall of Bataan, surviving bombings and the brutality of a Japanese prison camp for civilians. And then they came home and were marginalized and ignored. Hard to read about what they and the other noncombatants had to endure.
Veiled Warriors: Allied Nurses of the First World War by Christine E. Hallett, narrated by Elizabeth Jasicki
Lacking professional recognition or certification, trained nurses, along with volunteers of varying ability, struggled to provide patient care in a military environment dominated by men. Interesting but dry and rather formal.
A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead, narrated by Wanda McCaddon
Members of the French Resistance forge bonds of solidarity that help them to endure the unspeakable brutality of the Nazi death camps. Heartbreaking and extremely sad.

Now I'm ready to go back to some mindless entertainment.

11-20-2017, 09:17 PM	#2119
Catlady Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,345 Karma: 52398889 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite, AGPTek Bluetooth Clip	In a departure from my usual reading, I listened to five nonfiction books, all of them about women. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David Von Drehle, narrated by Barrett Whitener As a movement to unionize was gaining momentum, women workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, most of them young underpaid immigrants, perished because of locked doors (locked to prevent pilfering of a few dollars' worth of supplies) and the absence of safety precautions as fire swept the building. Straightforward account, good job of explaining the historical and social context. The Great Divorce: A Nineteenth-Century Mother's Extraordinary Fight Against Her Husband, the Shakers, and Her Times by Ilyon Woo, narrated by Suzanne Toren Since a woman was defined by her husband and had no rights in law, when Eunice Chapman's husband joined the Shaker sect, he took their three children with him--they were his property, after all. Eunice fought a lengthy legal battle that involved special legislation to force her husband and the Shakers to return them to her. Interesting account of a determined woman. We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of the Women Trapped on Bataan by Elizabeth M. Norman, narrated by Dina Pearlman Military nurses in the Philippines went from living in paradise to living in hell after Pearl Harbor and the fall of Bataan, surviving bombings and the brutality of a Japanese prison camp for civilians. And then they came home and were marginalized and ignored. Hard to read about what they and the other noncombatants had to endure. Veiled Warriors: Allied Nurses of the First World War by Christine E. Hallett, narrated by Elizabeth Jasicki Lacking professional recognition or certification, trained nurses, along with volunteers of varying ability, struggled to provide patient care in a military environment dominated by men. Interesting but dry and rather formal. A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead, narrated by Wanda McCaddon Members of the French Resistance forge bonds of solidarity that help them to endure the unspeakable brutality of the Nazi death camps. Heartbreaking and extremely sad. Now I'm ready to go back to some mindless entertainment.