Synopsis
'They were not just reporters; they were also pioneers, and Judith Mackrell has done them proud.' –Spectator
Going with the Boys follows six intrepid women as their lives and careers intertwined on the front lines of the Second World War.
Martha Gellhorn got the scoop on D-Day by traveling to Normandy as a stowaway on a Red Cross ship; Lee Miller went from being a Vogue cover model to the magazine’s official war correspondent; Sigrid Schultz hid her Jewish identity and risked her life by reporting on the Nazi regime; Virginia Cowles, transformed herself from ‘society girl columnist’ to combat reporter; Clare Hollingworth was the first English journalist to break the news of the war, while Helen Kirkpatrick was the first woman to report from an Allied war zone to be granted equal privileges to her male colleagues.
Barred from official briefings and from combat zones, their lives made deliberately difficult by entrenched prejudice, all six set up their own informal contacts and found their own pockets of war action. In this gripping, intimate and nuanced account, Judith Mackrell celebrates these extraordinary women and reveals how they wrote history as it was being made, changing the face of war reporting forever.
'This is a book that manages to be thoughtful and edge-of-your-seat thrilling.' – Mail on Sunday
'Like the copy filed by her subjects, it is an essential read.' – BBC History Magazine
Details
Reviews
“The strength of Mackrell’s insightful book is the way she shows just how many obstacles this courageous sextet faced in getting to the front . . . Women reporting the news from dangerous places may be a common sight today but reading Judith Mackrell’s Going with the Boys is an important reminder that it was not always so.”Anne Sebba, author of Les Parisiennes and That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor
“It’s excellent — beautifully researched, deeply sympathetic, and particularly insightful about Martha Gellhorn and Clare Hollingworth. They and the other women who went to war were pioneers in a dangerous profession who overcame fear and discrimination with grace and skill. Judith shows us clearly why their example is so important to today’s journalism. I really enjoyed it.”John Simpson
“These six remarkable women writers shared courage, intelligence, competitiveness and a determination not be sidelined into the woman's angle; more than that, they left a legacy for war reporting that has shaped all those who have followed in their steps.”Caroline Moorehead, Samuel Johnson Prize shortlisted author of Village of Secrets
“Fast-paced and informative, [Going With The Boys] puts these women’s trail-blazing accomplishments in the social, military, and historical contexts we need to grasp how remarkable they were . . . Highly recommended, especially for readers who want to learn about the challenges met by these female pioneers.”Carolyn Burke, author of Foursome and Lee Miller: A Life
