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Cultivating victory : the Women's Land Army and the Victory Garden movement

Title
Cultivating victory : the Women's Land Army and the Victory Garden movement / Cecilia Gowdy-Wygant.
Author
Gowdy-Wygant, Cecilia.
Publication
Pittsburgh : University of Pittsburgh Press, c2013.

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TextUse in library JFE 13-8010Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
viii, 230 p : ill.; 24 cm
Summary
  • "During the First and Second World Wars, food shortages reached critical levels in the Allied nations. The situation in England, which relied heavily on imports and faced German naval blockades, was particularly dire. Government campaigns were introduced in both Britain and the United States to recruit individuals to work on rural farms and to raise gardens in urban areas. These recruits were primarily women, who readily volunteered in what came to be known as Women's Land Armies. Stirred by national propaganda campaigns and a sense of adventure, these women, eager to help in any way possible, worked tirelessly to help their nations grow "victory gardens" to win the war against hunger and fascism. In vacant lots, parks, backyards, between row houses, in flowerboxes, and on farms, groups of primarily urban, middle-class women cultivated vegetables along with a sense of personal pride and achievement. In Cultivating Victory, Cecilia Gowdy-Wygant presents a compelling study of the sea change brought about in politics, society, and gender roles by these wartime campaigns. As she demonstrates, the seeds of this transformation were sown years before the First World War by women suffragists and international women's organizations. Gowdy-Wygant profiles the foundational organizations and significant individuals in Britain and America, such as Lady Gertrude Denman and Harriet Stanton Blatch, who directed the Women's Land Armies and fought to leverage the wartime efforts of women to eventually win voting rights and garner new positions in the workforce and politics. In her original transnational history, Gowdy-Wygant compares and contrasts the outcomes of war in both nations as seen through changing gender roles and women's ties to labor, agriculture, the home, and the environment. She sheds new light on the cultural legacies left by the Women's Land Armies and their major role in shaping national and personal identities. "--
  • "A compelling study of the sea change brought about in politics, society, and gender roles during World Wars I and II by campaigns to recruit Women's Land Armies in Great Britain and the United States to cultivate victory gardens. Cecilia Gowdy-Wygant compares and contrasts the outcomes of war in both nations as seen through women's ties to labor, agriculture, the home, and the environment. She sheds new light on the cultural legacies left by the Women's Land Armies and their major role in shaping national and personal identities"--
Alternative Title
Women's Land Army and the Victory Garden movement
Subject
  • Women's Land Army (Great Britain) > History
  • Women's Land Army (United States) > History
  • Victory gardens > Great Britain > History
  • Victory gardens > United States > History
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-219) and index.
Call Number
JFE 13-8010
ISBN
  • 9780822944256 (hardback)
  • 0822944251 (hardback)
LCCN
2012047728
OCLC
818954656
Author
Gowdy-Wygant, Cecilia.
Title
Cultivating victory : the Women's Land Army and the Victory Garden movement / Cecilia Gowdy-Wygant.
Imprint
Pittsburgh : University of Pittsburgh Press, c2013.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-219) and index.
Research Call Number
JFE 13-8010
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