Even the Women Must Fight

"When war strikes close to home, even the women must fight."— A prover Praise for Even the Women Must Fight "This book is a genuine eye-opener. Through graphic interviews and groundbreaking archival research, Karen Turner has given us a book that will change our understanding of the Vietnam War— and of Vietnam today. I found it enthralling."— Cynthia Enloe, author of The Morning After: Sexual Politics at the End of the Cold War "A first-rate book that will add substantially to our understanding of the human tragedy associated with one of the most bloody conflicts in recent history."— Robert Brigham, Professor of History, Vassar College A searing chronicle of wartime experiences, Even the Women Must Fight probes the cultural legacy of North Vietnam's American War, its influence and its aftermath. Unflinching in its portrayal of hardship, valor, and personal sacrifice, this wrenching account is nothing short of a revelation, banishing in one bold stroke the familiar image of Vietnamese women as passive onlookers, war brides, prostitutes, or helpless refugees. The fighting women of Vietnam embodied the meaning of the term warrior. The active participation of Vietnamese women after 1965 tipped the balance between victory and defeat. It is estimated that the total number of women in the regular army of North Vietnam, the militia and local forces, and professional volunteer teams was somewhere near two hundred thousand. Women with training and education operated underground communications networks, staffed and directed jungle clinics, and recorded the war as journalists. Others ran jungle liaison stations and ammunition depots, led and served in combatplatoons, made coffins and burial cloths, and collected and buried the dead. Local militiawomen learned to shoot at American planes from factory rooftops and village fields, carried supplies, and treated the wounded— all the while maintaining agricultural and industria