Gunpowder Girls

By Tanya Anderson

"Outstanding. Thoroughly researched and beautifully written ... We can now add their names to the human toll of America's greatest conflict" -- James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author of Battle Cry Of Freedom

With thousands of men off fighting in the Civil War, the U.S. and Confederate governments hired women and girls - some as young as ten - to make millions of rounds of ammunition. Poor immigrant girls and widows paid the price for carelessness at three major arsenals. Many of these workers were killed, blown up and burned beyond recognition. Hidden history comes alive through primary-source research and page-turning narrative. Gunpowder Girls is a story of child labor and immigrant hopes and the cruel, endless demands of an all-consuming war.

A Junior Library Guild Selection and Benjamin Franklin Award gold medalist.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1946248088
• ISBN13: 9781946248084
• Release Date: June 2021
• Publisher: Quindaro Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.8" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 13 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 12

Customer Reviews

Startling and revealing on how guns and weaponry have become more important than our children.

This is the true devastating story of thousands of children paid to pack artillery by hand during the 1700's. The author did an excellent job of showing factually how this travesty of using children to pack artillery in an unsafe environment devastated families for decades.The result was that thousands of innocent children died horrifically. Correcting this huge error in thinking took way too long and sadly was not done by the adults. History is repeating itself and we can all learn a lot about trajectory by reading this book.