Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men After the First World War

by Virginia Nicholson

Book Overview

Almost three-quarters of a million British soldiers lost their lives during the First World War, and many more were incapacitated by their wounds, leaving behind a generation of women who, raised to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670915645
• ISBN13: 9780670915644
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Beautifully written

Elegantly written, warm-hearted and thoughtful. An account of the lives of early twentieth century 'spinsters'. A great pleasure and highly recommended.

A Real Eye Opener

This book was a purchase I made because I read many books on WWI. I thought it would be really interesting to find out how women of similar age got on without a naturally balanced number of men around. The book traces many different women throughout their lives, both before, during and after the war. Although I got quite a few weird looks from my girlfriend whilst I was reading this book, the book met my expectations but I also found the stories somewhat sad. The author points out stories of several women who lost men very close to them during WWI. Some of these women never married or even dated after the war!!! That seems like a very lonely existence that these women could do very little to change without major interruptions to their lives (and by major I mean leaving the U.K. and your family behind to go elsewhere in the Commonwealth to find a mate). On another note, I liked the fact that many of these women had cats as companions; something to which I can relate. The contributions many of these women made to improving the rights of women in the U.K. or changing society's impression of "spinsters" was phenomenally impressive.

The Women Left Behind by the Lost Generation

Nowadays, many women are single either by chance or by choice. We marry later, we marry for love, we marry not at all. Men are around, but they may not be "the one," or are unsuitable for various reasons. Women may decide to concentrate on career, or may have been born with a different genetic makeup. Singled Out is about an entire generation of British women who, whether they wanted marriage or not, were destined to remain single due to the loss of over a million men within their own age group. Their stories are as varied as they are numerous. Many were engaged, only to lose their beloveds at the Front; some never even had a chance to meet that special someone. In some cases, the Great War gave women opportunities that they never would have dreamed of in other circumstances. Archeologists, stockbrokers and scientists abound within these pages. Lesbians found that they were able to live a bit more openly, too, due to the common occurrence of (and thus fewer raised eyebrows over) women needing to room together for financial and companionship reasons. Nearly every family in Britain lost someone in the Great War; this is how the women left behind picked up the pieces and moved forward without their men. Because of the sheer volume of stories, the narrative can become a bit confusing at times (I would go back occasionally to remind myself about whom I was reading), but the stories were so compelling on the whole that I now wish to read more about their experiences. Vera Brittain, especially, presents a fascinating life story.

demographics

When I moved to California in 1976 I could not understand why I wasn't getting laid. I got laid several times a week without any effort on my part in Washington DC. After years I realized it was demographics. The Federal Government (in the 70's) hired all women, Washington was stocked full of them, California wasn't. Demographics rules your world. Read this book and see what happens when things get seriously out of whack.

A glimpse of history

Although the "all anecdote" format makes the reading a bit choppy, this is a worthwhile glimpse into a slice of history. So many social changes took place due to the loss of men during the "Great War:" women's entrance into the workplace, the professions, politics, as well as the beginning of the breakdown of social class lines, entitlement to old age pensions, and above all, the ability of women to be happy outside the traditional "wife and mother" role. Yes, this book is about England, but it's still worth a read to look back less than 100 years and see how far we've come in what is, after all, a relatively short time.