Recruited by the U.S. Army and Navy from small towns and elite colleges, more than ten thousand women served as codebreakers during World War II. While their brothers and boyfriends took up arms, these women moved to Washington and learned the meticulous work of code-breaking. Their efforts shortened the war, saved countless lives, and gave them access to careers previously denied to them.

During World War II, a light-skinned African American girl "passes" for white in order to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots.

Popular images of women during the American Civil War include self-sacrificing nurses, romantic spies, and brave ladies maintaining hearth and home in the absence of their men. However, as DeAnne Blanton and Lauren M. Cook show in their remarkable new study, that conventional picture does not tell the entire story. Hundreds of women assumed male aliases, disguised themselves in men's uniforms, and charged into battle as Union and Confederate soldiers—facing

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"From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini, a bold, revelatory novel about one of the great untold stories of World War I-the women of the US Army Signal Corps, who broke down gender barriers in the military, smashed the workplace glass ceiling, and battled a pandemic as they helped lead the Allies to victory. In June 1917, General John Pershing arrived in France to establish American forces in Europe. He immediately found himself...

"The never-before-told story of four real-life women who risked everything to take on a life of espionage during the Civil War"--Provided by publisher.

"On a warm night in September, Yvonne Rudellat's house is bombed. Almost everything she owns is destroyed. Yvonne has no one left. She and her husband have long been estranged; her daughter, Jackie, is married and occupied with war work. Yvonne is no use to anyone -- older, diminutive, always overlooked. As she prepares to take her own life, fate offers her a new path. Almost no one believes she can do it. She is a woman, unaccustomed to this form...

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Cornelia Fort was already in the air with a student. They barely made it back to ground that morning. When the U.S. Army Air Forces put out a call for women pilots to aid the war effort, Fort was one of just over 1,100 women from across the nation made it through the Army's rigorous selection process to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). Not authorized to serve in combat, the WASP...

"Deborah Sampson didn't like being told what to do, especially by the King of England. Fiercely independent, 18-year-old Deborah enlists as Robert Shurtliff in George Washington's Continental Army to fight for her country's independence. But being a soldier is hard, dangerous work. Can she fight for her country and keep her identity a secret? Can she also discover who she really is and find her true purpose? This unbelievable story from American history...

World War II created new opportunities and demands for women to join the workforce. Although official government propaganda, distributed by the Office of War Information (OWI), praised their role in the war industry. While the number of women in the workforce increased from roughly one quarter in the 1930s to one third in 1944, the prevailing attitude remained that the phenomenon should be temporary - for "the duration" of the war.

These twenty-six suspense-filled stories unfold from across Germany, Poland, Great Britain, the United States, and more, providing an inspiring reminder of women and girls' refusal to sit on the sidelines around the world and throughout history.