I found so much of interest in Chris’s magnificent book that I could write a very long review – but that isn’t the point as reviews need to be fairly brief. The front cover – a photograph of photojournalist Helen Johns Kirtland inspecting an exploded naval mine on the Belgian coast - sets the scene, heralding Chris’s research into the remarkable exploits of 39 women writers. Due to my research during the centenary years for a series of commemorative exhibitions about the role of women in WW1, I already knew about Nelly Bly, Inez Milholland Boissevain and Louise Bryant but I had never heard of the others.
In order to get round the restrictions involving travel in the war zones and the reluctance to allow women anywhere near the front lines, many of those journalists volunteered with the many American agencies, such as the YMCA, who sent personnel, equipment and money to the countries fighting for their freedom. Some of them nursed too. And they did not just cover the Western Front but, as you will discover, they travelled to many of the other countries involved in the conflict. Once there, they reported on conditions for civilians and troops alike while at the same time recording their own experiences and feelings. I found the exploits of Peggy Hull, who was the first woman to be officially accredited by the U.S. Army (p. 243), and Eleanor Franklin Egan in Russia 1918 - 1919 of particular interest because my Grandfather was there with the British Army at that time. Egan survived a tragic incident involving a Greek passenger ship and an Austrian U-boat near the Island of Crete (p. 189)
As well as quoting from the reports sent back to the various newspapers and magazines in America, Chris also tells us a good deal about the women themselves and includes photographs of the journalists, some of whom were not young women when they set out on their incredible journeys.
With superb illustrations, maps and biographies of the women journalists, plus a very detailed and impressive bibliography, this is a book you will return to again and again.
I could not put this book down, and I read it from cover to cover with great enjoyment. You must read it. With thanks to Chris Dubbs for a truly remarkable book and for mentioning me in the acknowledgements for Chris contacted me during the preparation of the book about some of the events included.
Lucy London, October 2020
