Scan barcode
lcrick1223's review against another edition
3.0
It was interesting to learn about the WI and their vital role during World World II. I was especially interested in the back story of how the WIs came to be in the first place. Who knew it had such a history! I found the book to be a little slow in some places, with a strong emphasis on numbers and statistics, which while helpful, can be a bit dry. Each chapter was sort of an essay in and of its own. I am often impressed with the way in which the people of Britain all worked together during the war, though I know it was not all perfect and there were issues. If only we could remember that attitude today.
susannavs's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book. Since I don't live in the UK, I don't know much about the WI, apart from seeing the movie "Calendar Girls"! But this book show their triumph during World War II. The WI took evacuees from the cities, grew vegetables, organised to pick wild-growing fruits to make jam, came up with recipes for rationing, organised savings, donated to various war efforts (the medical where possible as they were a pacifist group officially, but nonetheless patriotic!), and ran courses to educate women (which they are still doing today). The women gave their all to the efforts while the men were fighting in Europe and the rest of the world. A great piece of social history, of a group of women you wouldn't have thought would have contributed so much - yet they were recognised in their time by the leaders.
alexisdpatt's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.0
“Home Fires: The Story of the Women’s Institute in the Second World War” by Julie Summers ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Home Fires,” or “Jambusters” as it is known in the UK, recounts the history of the Women’s Institute (WI) in Britain during WWII.
If you’ve ever wanted to know about the British home front during the war, “Home Fires” is a great place to start. Although the WI is a bipartisan and pacifist organization (so there’s no fun and cool discussions of groups such as the WAAF or the ATS), there’s still a lot to be understood about the rolls in which women played during the war that wasn’t necessarily tied to the military.
From jam making to knitting to housing evacuees from London and the continent, the women of the WI saw it as their duty to keep the home front working during a perilous time—especially in extremely rural areas where electricity and indoor plumbing were still unavailable to most of the population. If it wasn’t for the WI, many homes wouldn’t have gained access to tap water for decades after the 40s.
This is honestly a must read for anyone trying to better understand the British home front for ordinary, everyday people. I will definitely be buying a physical copy so I can reread it and take note for some of my long overlooked projects. 🙃
kmg365's review against another edition
3.0
It’s not my intent to damn with faint praise, here, but I have to recount my relief when this book ended 6 segments short of where I thought it would. My mp3 player somehow rammed the tracks together with a different book, making it look much longer than it was. Without enumerating daily menu plans for every soul in a representative village, I couldn’t imagine what she was going to talk about for 6 more hours.
During World War II, village women in the United Kingdom, organized mainly through their affiliation with a local Women’s Institute chapter, were enlisted in numerous activities to assist the war effort. From food production and preservation, to knitting “comforts” for the troops and prisoners of war, to housing the mothers and children evacuated from London, the efforts of these farm wives were key in minimizing the impact when the ships delivering routinely imported items could no longer get through.
This book was the inspiration for the ITV television series Home Fires, the first season of which has also aired on PBS in the U.S. The show, in addition to having a hauntingly beautiful theme song, does a wonderful job of allowing the viewer to attach human faces to the impressive statistics listed in the book.
everdee19's review against another edition
2.0
Absolutely fascinating subject matter but the actual telling of the information was oddly organized and sometimes rather bewildering.
ruthie_the_librarian's review against another edition
4.0
I'm a member of my local WI, and I really love the WI, as an institution, and as a place for me to go to be surrounded by an incredibly diverse group of women. I picked this book up on our 2nd hand books table, and it's sat on my to-be-read pile for a while. I'm not a big non-fiction reader, so somehow I never quite felt like picking it up. But just recently I have needed books to take my mind off real life, and so one day I started this and I've thoroughly enjoyed it.
It does read very much as an academic history work, so I can see why some reviewers here have been disappointed. But I have always been fascinated with stories from World War II, having grown up listening to my Nan talk about her work welding, or my Great Uncle talk about how he navigated for the air force. There's a lot of detail in the book, and it is sometimes a little dry, but I think my personal interest in the WI kept me engaged throughout because it is absolutely fascinating.
I am very proud of our WI history of campaigning on relevant issues. I only wish we could move a little faster on things like this nowadays, when the opportunities for us to speak up and out over social media surely provide us with a wider, louder voice than ever before. But to read about various issues, roles that the WI took on, respect they commanded from various government offices and departments is inspiring.
Some things I had known about (the jam!), and other things I hadn't. The evacuation stories are fascinating, and all the different ways in which WI members were roped in to help are incredible. I loved the personal comments from diaries and letters of members, and snippets from meeting minutes. I'm currently the secretary for our WI, and I'm now thinking I should be spicing up our minutes a little bit more, to make them more interesting for future readers of our archives!
Anyway, it's a very well researched, very well written book, and if you've any interest in WI matters I can recommend it!
It does read very much as an academic history work, so I can see why some reviewers here have been disappointed. But I have always been fascinated with stories from World War II, having grown up listening to my Nan talk about her work welding, or my Great Uncle talk about how he navigated for the air force. There's a lot of detail in the book, and it is sometimes a little dry, but I think my personal interest in the WI kept me engaged throughout because it is absolutely fascinating.
I am very proud of our WI history of campaigning on relevant issues. I only wish we could move a little faster on things like this nowadays, when the opportunities for us to speak up and out over social media surely provide us with a wider, louder voice than ever before. But to read about various issues, roles that the WI took on, respect they commanded from various government offices and departments is inspiring.
Some things I had known about (the jam!), and other things I hadn't. The evacuation stories are fascinating, and all the different ways in which WI members were roped in to help are incredible. I loved the personal comments from diaries and letters of members, and snippets from meeting minutes. I'm currently the secretary for our WI, and I'm now thinking I should be spicing up our minutes a little bit more, to make them more interesting for future readers of our archives!
Anyway, it's a very well researched, very well written book, and if you've any interest in WI matters I can recommend it!