A Different Track: Hospital Trains of the Second World War is up for giveaway for the month of November.
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The lack of acknowledgement of a group of people’s accomplishments is often confused with their lack of participation, which is a shame. History can bury the quiet workers over the more boastful ones who have a knack of generating headlines for themselves, even if the former category are trailblazers and innovators, or just plain reliable hard workers. When you are hard at work, you don’t have time to call the paparazzi to be there as you vogue for the press.
Women are largely forgotten in historical texts. So much has been forever lost to us because of it. Women made contributions in every aspect of industry, yet even if those contributions haven’t been ignored, they have been framed as if these occurrences were rare, and we’d be surprised to discover how common they were.
I remember my grandmother talking about her days as a nurse on a hospital train during the Second World War, and when I decided to write a book about these women, A Different Track: Hospital Trains of the Second World War, it was surprising that there weren’t any books on the subject of hospital trains, let alone the women who worked on them.
Thankfully, we have authors with curiosity who dig into archives and show us that historical narratives have rarely done women justice, thereby rescuing the record from oblivion.
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Discounted Labour: Women Workers in Canada, 1870-1939, by Ruth Frage and Carmela Patrias
This book is a fascinating account of how, far from the notions of women staying at home and adhering to so-called “traditional” gender roles, Canadian women between 1870-1939 were active members of the workforce. Yet, while conventional ideas of women and work are challenged by this book, these women were still underpaid, untrained, and there was no rising up the ranks to leadership positions. Women were dismissed with systems firmly in place to try to discourage those across ethnic and socioeconomic demographics from joining unions and becoming fully financially independent on their own.
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The Indomitable Lady Doctors, by Carlotta Hacker
The uphill battles of women who had to fight to be doctors in Canada are well-documented, but this insightful book is worth particular praise. That the first Canadian female physician was disguised as a man says much about how gruelling the systems stacked against them were, yet it didn’t stop women from dismantling those barriers. For those wishing to encourage the next generation of young women to enter STEM-based industries, this is a must-read for them.
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Canadian Women in the Sky: 100 Years of Flights, by Elizabeth Gillan Muir
This book is a thoughtful chronicle of the historical struggles of Canadian women breaking into aviation, from merely being allowed to board as passengers, right up to becoming pilots, then astronauts. The question isn’t how high can women go, but how long it took to get there.
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Her Daughter the Engineer: The Life of Elsie Gregory MacGill, by Richard I. Bourgeois-Doyle
Helen Gregory MacGill was a feminist journalist and then judge, but her daughter Elsie Gregory MacGill was no slouch, either, becoming the world's first female aeronautical engineer and professional aircraft designer. Like her mother, Elsie, fought for women’s rights in Canada, and this book chronicles Elsie’s life and contributions to aircraft engineering in the Second World War, something which has often been forgotten.
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Women Who Made the News: Female Journalists in Canada, 1880-1945, by Marjory Lang
A lively and intriguing read about the female pioneers who fought to become journalists, and their rise from the bottom to the top during an era where newsrooms were hostile toward them in both print and broadcasting. How these women overcame these hostilities adds layers of depth to this important work.
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This Small Army of Women : Canadian Volunteer Nurses and the First World War, by Linda J. Quiney
No less than two thousand women from Canada and Newfoundland made the conscious decision to volunteer as nurses overseas during the First World War, and this book is an intimate portrait of their lives during the war that was supposed to end all wars. Detailed and riveting, for those interested in Canadian women’s contribution in the military, this is a must-read.
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Her Courage Rises: 50 Trailblazing Women of British Columbia and the Yukon, by Haley Healey, Illustrated by Kimiko Fraser
A beautifully illustrated children’s book giving the next generation a much-needed lesson at how women in the past broke down walls and barriers in British Columbia and the Yukon. From doctors, politicians, athletes, adventurers, and even miners, no stone is left unturned as young Canadians get the proper introductions to the likes of Lois Smith, Kimiko Murakami, Martha Black, and Nellie Yip Quong, to name but a few.
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Learn more about A Different Track:
This fascinating book looks at the largely unknown history of hospital trains, which wound their way across the scarred landscapes of war-weary Europe, and the doctors and nurses who risked their lives treating patients from all sides of the conflict.
Railroads played an integral role in the Second World War. Trains brought food, munitions, and essential supplies. They transported troops. They were a means of escape for those fleeing persecution. At the same, they were used to transport innocent people to their deaths. Yet there was one kind of train that improved the chances of survival every time they rolled through the battle-worn towns and cities of the European theatre of war.
Hospital trains were not a new concept in the Second World War, but their use was instrumental in this most deadly conflict of the twentieth century. Regular passenger trains were converted into mobile emergency wards tending to the critically wounded. It was an elegant solution, as train cars could be refitted with tier beds, and supplies could be easily transported along with medical staff.
A Different Track introduces readers to the world of hospital trains of the Second World War. From the nurses who ran them to the factories that manufactured them, this book looks at how these trains quietly altered the fortunes of the world. From Canada’s contributions to the role of women who both healed the sick and built the trains, this is a fascinating look at one of the hidden nuggets of history.
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