Wanda Traczyk-Stawska was 12-years-old when the German army invaded Poland in 1939, and a bomb hit a house across the street from where she lived in Warsaw. "I ran out with this dog in my arms to see where this bomb hit, to possibly cry out for people's help," Wanda said. "I saw a woman running out of the rubble of a building with an infant...I saw the Germans shooting this woman, aiming at this infant. I saw this child fall apart."
"And I was also at that time, first witnessing them throwing out of the house where we lived, my friend a Jew, I saw how they yanked her grandfather, how they pushed him, because he did not know what was going on, did not understand anything, cried, a terrible scene. Then my attitude towards the Germans was unequivocal." Not much later the Germans came and booted Wanda's family out of their apartment. She has spunk even at 12. "He pushed me, this officer, because I wasn't very polite," Wanda said. Have women always been warriors? And why does it matter anyway? That's the question we take up today with the help of a "brilliant storyteller." That's what reviews say about Pamela D. Toler, PhD and her recent book Women Warriors: An Unexpected History. From the time she was young, Pamela sought out stories of "smart/courageous/quirky/energetic girl protagonists and the few biographies of women that reached [her] elementary school library." Today the author has a PhD in history, and is praised for her rigorous research and accessible writing. Her books are for nerdy or inquisitive teens and thinking adults. (That's you, right?)
When I was a little girl, I loved to read about pioneers on the Oregon Trail. I came to identify with qualities I perceived in people who made that difficult journey. They were bold, grasping freedom and opportunity. They were tough, pitting themselves against nature, gambling on their physical strength and mental acuity, and testing their will to survive. When I worried about what had happened to the Native peoples whom the pioneers displaced, I was given a vague answer, "It's too bad what happened, but it's progress and you can't stop progress." From my perspective now, I would not call westward expansion human progress. And my focus now is on Indigenous people's amazing will to survive. I'm identifying myself with the qualities of compassion, good listening skills and the ability to see history more clearly.
As a writer and lover of books, I'm also working to amplify voices that have long been ignored.
Please welcome author Winifred Conkling here to tell you about the biography she's written entitled Ms. Gloria Steinem, A Life. Reviewers call it insightful and well-researched. From Booklist, "Readers will come away with...
This past week marked the anniversary of one of the most crucial moments in American civil rights history. February 7, 1942, African Americans launched the Double V Campaign. It started with one man's question. "Should I sacrifice my life to live half American?" And it burgeoned into a force for equal employment opportunity for blacks during World War II, and laid a foundation for the civil rights marches in the 1960s.
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I'm fascinated to discover little-known history, stories of people and events that provide a new perspective on why and how things happened, new voices that haven't been heard, insight into how the past brought us here today, and how it might guide us to a better future.
I also post here about my books and feature other authors and their books on compelling and important historical topics. Occasionally, I share what makes me happy, pictures of my garden, recipes I've made, events I've attended, people I've met. I'm always happy to hear from readers in the blog comments, by email or social media. Archives
September 2023
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