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Summary and Reviews of Women of War by Suzanne Cope

Women of War by Suzanne Cope

Women of War

The Italian Assassins, Spies, and Couriers Who Fought the Nazis

by Suzanne Cope
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  • Apr 29, 2025, 480 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

The gripping, true, and untold history of the Italian anti-fascist resistance during World War II, told through the stories of four spectacularly courageous women fighters.

From underground soldiers to intrepid spies, Women of War unearths the hidden history of the brave women who risked their lives to overthrow the Nazi occupation and liberate Italy. Using primary sources and brand new scholarship, historian Suzanne Cope illuminates the roles played by women while Italians struggled under dual foes: Nazi invaders and Italian fascist loyalists.

Cope's research and storytelling introduces four brave and resourceful women who risked everything to overthrow the Nazi occupation and pry their future from the fascist grasp. We meet Carla Capponi in Rome, where she made bombs in an underground bunker then ferried them to their deadly destination wearing lipstick and a trenchcoat; and Bianca Guidetti Serra who rode her bicycle up switchbacks in the Alps, dodging bullets while delivering bags of clandestine newspapers and munitions to the anti-fascist armies hidden in the mountains. In Florence, the young future author of Italy's new constitution, Teresa Mattei, carried secret messages and hid bombs; while Anita Malavasi led troops across the Apennine Mountains. Women of War brings their experiences as underground resistance fighters, partisan combatants, spies, and saboteurs to life.

Essential and original, Women of War offers not only a reexamination of the elision of women from vital WWII history but also a valuable perspective on the ongoing fight for gender equality and social justice. After all, these were the women who launched a feminist movement as they fought for the future of their country, and what that could mean for its women, all while under Nazi and fascist fire.

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Reviews

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Suzanne Cope brings to light a complex facet of an otherwise well-known war in her nonfiction account Women of War: The Italian Assassins, Spies, and Couriers Who Fought the Nazis. But political machinations and military maneuvers are not at the heart of this story. Instead, Cope humanizes the conflict through the experiences of four women who played crucial roles on and off the battlefield, and she shows how women were integral to the fight for freedom and a new political direction in post-Fascist Italy. For anyone interested in how fascism and totalitarianism are actually brought down, this book will provide an eye-opening lesson in the bravery and equality it takes to achieve victory...continued

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(Reviewed by Rose Rankin).

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Beyond the Book



A Women in Resistance Reading List

Book Jackets of Titles Mentioned in the Reading List

Suzanne Cope's Women of War details the efforts of four female resistance fighters in Italy during World War II, but it also highlights the efforts of countless unnamed women who supported revolutionary efforts. For those interested in learning more about the role of women in resistance movements, the following books explore stories on and off the battlefield:

Nonfiction

Liberty, Equality, Fashion: The Women Who Styled the French Revolution by Anne Higonnet
While not an exhaustive history of the French Revolution, this book describes how revolutionaries like Térézia Tallien and Juliette Récamier actively participated in anti-monarchical activities and survived stints in jail during the Reign of Terror. ...

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Read-Alikes

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