In Their Own Words

The contributions of American women to World War I often are neglected, perhaps because of a mistaken impression that as the official U.S. participation was two years in duration, its female contribution must be equally short. The few collections of World War I writings by women are composed of mostly British contributors, with only a few American women represented, and even those tend to be only the most prominent (e.g., Edith Wharton). The Department of Veterans Affairs report America's Women Veterans states that more than 10,000 American women served in the war; of the nearly 200 listed as casualties, four occurred under combat conditions. Countless others worked in private or nongovernmental relief efforts or in initiatives connected to Allied nations. Still others reported on the war. In Their Own Words: American Women in World War I restores American women's role in the war through their first-person accounts, thus providing a fuller picture of their participation.