OUR STORIES: RECOLLECTIONS OF WOMEN FROM WORLD WAR II chronicles the Second World War as seen through the eyes of women around the world who lived through those dramatic years. It is a collection of stories—each a personal account of one woman’s experiences, thoughts, and feelings. In most cases these essays were written by the women themselves; the remaining pieces were penned by the author based upon personal interviews with the participants. OUR STORIES is sweeping in scope and breadth—and yet also intimate and personal. It provides a glimpse into the hearts of individual women whose lives were shaped by world events during this extraordinary time in history. Each remarkable story comes to life in the black and white photographs that accompany it.

In OUR STORIES, readers will meet young women who welded Liberty Ships or drove tractors in the Midwest. They will encounter women who lived overseas—Jewish refugees escaping from the Nazis, and Russian doctors and nurses starving and freezing with the Red Army on the bloody Eastern Front in 1944. These personal accounts demonstrate the powerful contrasts and connections between women around the globe during WWII. They are stories of naïve innocence, patriotic fervor, heartache, and terrible suffering. They show the amazing contribution of women working in factories and farms in the US—efforts that kept Europe alive while America supplied the Allies with food, arms, and supplies under the Lend-Lease program. As one European woman recalled, “What America sent, that’s what we ate.” But the stories also point out the stark contrast between the experiences of women in America and those living overseas. While American women endured rationing, blackouts, and loved-ones serving overseas, women in other nations battled starvation, incessant bombing, and the savagery of occupying forces.