The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World

The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II

A long-awaited English translation of the groundbreaking oral history of women in World War II across Europe and Russiaâ€”from the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

â€œA landmark.â€â€”Timothy Snyder, author ofÂ On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

For more than three decades, Svetlana Alexievich has been the memory and conscience of the twentieth century. When the Swedish Academy awarded her the Nobel Prize, it cited her invention of â€œa new kind of literary genre,â€ describing her work as â€œa history of emotions . . . a history of the soul.â€

In The Unwomanly Face of War, Alexievich chronicles the experiences of the Soviet women who fought on the front lines, on the home front, and in the occupied territories. These womenâ€”more than a million in totalâ€”were nurses and doctors, pilots, tank drivers, machine-gunners, and snipers. They battled alongside men, and yet, after the victory, their efforts and sacrifices were forgotten.

Alexievich traveled thousands of miles and visited more than a hundred towns to record these womenâ€™s stories. Together, this symphony of voices reveals a different aspect of the warâ€”the everyday details of life in combat left out of the official histories.

Translated by the renowned Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, The Unwomanly Face of War is a powerful and poignant account of the central conflict of the twentieth century, a kaleidoscopic portrait of the human side of war.

â€œBut why? I asked myself more than once. Why, having stood up for and held their own place in a once absolutely male world, have women not stood up for their history? Their words and feelings? They did not believe themselves. A whole world is hidden from us. Their war remains unknown . . . I want to write the history of that war. A womenâ€™s history.â€â€”Svetlana Alexievich

THE WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE
â€œfor her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time.â€

â€œA monument to courage . . . It would be hard to find a book that feels more important or original. . . . Alexievichâ€™s account of the second world war as seen through the eyes of hundreds of women is an extraordinary thing. . . . Her achievement is as breathtaking as the experiences of these women are awe-inspiring.â€â€”The Guardian

â€œA remarkable project . . . Women did everythingâ€”this book reminds and reveals. They learned to pilot planes and drop bombs, to shoot targets from great distances. . . . Alexievich has turned their voices into historyâ€™s psalm.â€â€”TheÂ Boston Globe

â€œHarrowing and moving . . . Alexievich did an enormous service, recovering these stories. . . . The Unwomanly Face of War tells the story of these forgotten women, and its great achievement is that it gives credit to their contribution but also to the hell they endured.â€â€”The Washington Post

â€œA very different kind of war book . . . In undertaking the hundreds of interviews that led to this vast, emotionally riveting account, the author wants us to consider the womenâ€™s voices. . . . [Alexievich] weaves their testimonies together until their individual voices become a haunting chorus. . . . At a time when Americans and Russians once again find ourselves in a strange relationshipâ€”not a Cold War, but not the allies we were during World War IIâ€”thereâ€™s something powerful about such close access to these womenâ€™s feelings.â€â€”Newsday
Country USA
Manufacturer Random House
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2017-07-25
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Random House
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2017-07-25
Format	Kindle eBook

The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II

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