Women of War - by Suzanne Cope (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Historian Suzanne Cope illuminates the roles played by women while Italians struggled under dual foes: Nazi invaders and Italian fascist loyalists. Cope's research and storytelling introduce four brave and resourceful women who risked everything to overthrow the Nazi occupation and pry their future from the fascist grasp. We meet Carla Capponi in Rome, where she made bombs in an underground bunker then ferried them to their deadly destination wearing lipstick and a trenchcoat; and Bianca Guidetti Serra, who rode her bicycle up switchbacks in the Alps, dodging bullets while delivering bags of clandestine newspapers and munitions to the anti-fascist armies hidden in the mountains. In Florence, the young future author of Italy's new constitution, Teresa Mattei, carried secret messages and hid bombs; while Anita Malavasi led troops across the Apennine Mountains"--

Book Synopsis

The gripping, true, and untold history of the Italian anti-fascist resistance during World War II, told through the stories of four spectacularly courageous women fighters

From underground soldiers to intrepid spies, Women of War unearths the hidden history of the brave women who risked their lives to overthrow the Nazi occupation and liberate Italy. Using primary sources and brand new scholarship, historian Suzanne Cope illuminates the roles played by women while Italians struggled under dual foes: Nazi invaders and Italian fascist loyalists.

Cope's research and storytelling introduces four brave and resourceful women who risked everything to overthrow the Nazi occupation and pry their future from the fascist grasp. We meet Carla Capponi in Rome, where she made bombs in an underground bunker then ferried them to their deadly destination wearing lipstick and a trenchcoat; and Bianca Guidetti Serra who rode her bicycle up switchbacks in the Alps, dodging bullets while delivering bags of clandestine newspapers and munitions to the anti-fascist armies hidden in the mountains. In Florence, the young future author of Italy's new constitution, Teresa Mattei, carried secret messages and hid bombs; while Anita Malavasi led troops across the Apennine Mountains. Women of War brings their experiences as underground resistance fighters, partisan combatants, spies, and saboteurs to life.

Essential and original, Women of War offers not only a reexamination of the elision of women from vital WWII history but also a valuable perspective on the ongoing fight for gender equality and social justice. After all, these were the women who launched a feminist movement as they fought for the future of their country, and what that could mean for its women, all while under Nazi and fascist fire.

Review Quotes

Praise for Women of War
"Journalist Cope spins a thrilling saga of four young women of the Italian resistance...Cope's narrative rivets as she tracks how the young women escalated their efforts; one woman, who at her first resistance meeting was asked to play Chopin to cover the partisans' voices, ends up a key member of a hit squad...It makes for a captivating look at how antifascist resistance operated and evolved during WWII."--Publishers Weekly (starred)

"An inspiring, illuminating group biography."--Kirkus

"A deeply researched and sublimely cinematic tale about regular people making a difference and standing up to fascism, Women of War is an inspiring read that's also highly relevant today. I stand in awe of the bravery of these tenacious women and of Cope's skill in telling their incredible stories."--Olivia Campbell, New York Times bestselling author of Women in White Coats and Sisters in Science

"Women of War is a well researched, elegantly told and deeply relevant story of female courage and defiance. Suzanne Cope's passionate prose moves and inspires."--Judy Batalion, New York Times bestselling author of The Light of Days

"Suzanne Cope has uncovered the gripping accounts of brave female partisans whose efforts in Italy during the Second World War made a crucial difference between victory and defeat. Whether hiding bombs beneath dresses, dodging bullets while swimming among the waves, or falling in love and forming friendships, these women's stories are a much needed addition to the war narrative, and through her dogged research, Suzanne has brought them vividly to life."--Julie Satow, New York Times bestselling author of When Women Ran Fifth Avenue

"Vivid and heart stopping. Suzanne Cope has brought the astonishing stories of these brave women to life in a rollicking, interlocking narrative that reads like a novel. But it is the meticulously reported truth of these stories that gives them a deeper power: These women are right on time to speak to us today, and to everyone who wonders how far they would go to fight for freedom."--Sarah DiGregorio, author of Taking Care: The Story of Nursing and Its Power to Change Our World

"Suzanne Cope has written a riveting true story of resistance, about four intrepid young women who fought with extraordinary wile, unblinking resolve and great courage against Nazis and fascists in Mussolini's Italy."--Nina Willner, author of Forty Autumns and The Boys in the Light

"A timely addition to the literature on twentieth-century fascism, Women of War tells the incredible true stories of the daring young women who risked their lives for the Italian Resistance during World War II. Their spunk and creativity not only in the face of grave bodily danger, but also at a time when women and girls were routinely underestimated and relegated to domestic duties, remind us that even the most unlikely have the power to resist."--Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong

"Woman at War offers a fascinating revision to the male-dominated history of Italian resistance during World War II. With elegant prose, Suzanne Cope plunges the reader into the conflict through the eyes of four young women who risked their lives to free their country from Fascism and establish an egalitarian society. Initially patronized and overlooked by their male comrades, the courage, intelligence, and ingenuity of these extraordinary women proved their mettle as they rose from low-level couriers to high ranks in the Resistance. Cope's riveting narrative accelerates from a murmuring simmer during Mussolini's reign to a furious boil under Nazi occupation--an exhilarating and inspiring read."--Michael Wolraich, author of The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

"In World War II-Era Italy, no shortage of brave souls dared to challenge Mussolini's Fascism and Hitler's Nazism. In Women of War, Suzanne Cope focuses on four courageous, dedicated, and resilient women who fought German occupation and their country's political ideology despite imminent danger to their lives and the lives of their loved ones. In this thoroughly researched, dramatic narrative, we see the women take thrilling risks that could have landed them in jail, or even worse. Even in the depths of despair, the women clung to hope and held fast to a belief that they could make the world a better place. What a timely reminder for us today."--Rachael Hanel, author of Not the Camila We Knew

"Suzanne Cope rights a wrong in this exhaustive book, detailing through four women's particular experiences the pivotal role women had in fighting the fascist occupation."--NY Journal of Books

About the Author

Suzanne Cope is a scholar and narrative journalist, and is the author of Power Hungry: Women of the Black Panther Party and Freedom Summer and Their Fight to Feed a Movement. Her work on themes of political and social change, feminism, food, and culture has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Review of Books, Food & Wine, the BBC, The Washington Post, Aeon, and others. She is a professor at New York University.