Mothers, Sisters, Soldiers, Spies: Women at War in American Military History (Women Between the Lines: Overlooked Lives That Shaped History)

Mothers, Sisters, Soldiers, Spies examines the long, continuous history of women’s participation in American wars—not as rare exceptions, but as an essential part of how war has actually been fought, sustained, and endured.
From the Revolutionary War through the War on Terror, women fed and followed armies, gathered intelligence, organized logistics, nursed the wounded, labored in war industries, and, at times, fought directly. Their work was indispensable in wartime and routinely minimized, restricted, or erased in peacetime. Rather than focusing only on famous individuals, this book explores how women’s service was structured and constrained. It examines how military and political institutions defined who could serve, under what conditions, and with what recognition. Throughout, it integrates the experiences of women of color, revealing how race, class, and gender shaped opportunity, exclusion, and historical memory.
Inside you’ll meet:
• Women who sustained armies during the American Revolution
• Enslaved and Indigenous women whose labor and intelligence shaped early conflicts
• Civil War nurses, scouts, and spies operating inside and behind enemy lines
• Women aviators, codebreakers, and intelligence agents of the World Wars
• Japanese American nurses serving while their families were incarcerated
• Korean and Vietnam War nurses, analysts, and flight personnel
• Pioneers of modern military integration and service academies
• Women who served, survived, and sometimes died in America’s most recent wars
Drawing on primary sources, government records, and scholarly research, Mothers, Sisters, Soldiers, Spies challenges familiar assumptions about war, service, and memory. It asks not whether women were present in America’s wars, but why their presence was so often denied—and what changes when that history is finally told in full.