Scan barcode
A review by ruthie_the_librarian
Jambusters: The Women's Institute at War 1939-1945 by Julie Summers
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!