In which I finally review Adrienne Mayor’s The Amazons

Over the last year and a bit, I’ve mentioned Adrienne’s Mayor’s The Amazons more than once here on the Margins, always with a quick note to the effect that a) it’s excellent and b) I really need to review it. (1) In some ways a review here is superfluous. A lot of you may have…

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Women of the Great War: The Russian Women’s Battalion of Death

Despite the creepy moniker, the Russian Women’s Battalion of Death is not really the stuff from which Halloween stories are made. Instead it is a tale of patriotism, courage, and political idealism When World War I began, Russian law prohibited women from joining the army. Nonetheless, Russian women found ways to fight. Some women took…

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Women of the Great War: The Hello Girls

As I’ve mentioned before here in the Margins, now and then a bit of history begins to track me down. A name, event, or idea piques my interest and suddenly I stumble across it everywhere. Or at least in the footnotes to books on tangentially related subjects. Lately the “Hello Girls” of the first World…

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