TY - BOOK ID - 138736842 TI - The girls next door PY - 2019 SN - 067498935X 0674989376 9780674989375 9780674989351 9780674989368 0674989368 9780674986381 0674986385 PB - Cambridge, Massachusetts DB - UniCat KW - Women and war KW - Soldiers KW - Military morale KW - World War, 1939-1945 KW - Vietnam War, 1961-1975 KW - Korean War, 1950-1953 KW - World War, 1914-1918 KW - History KW - Recreation KW - War work. KW - United States. KW - Military life KW - US military history. KW - United States military history. KW - Vietnam. KW - World War I. KW - World War II. KW - women in the armed forces. KW - women in the military. KW - women's history. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:138736842 AB - The emotional toll of war can be as debilitating to soldiers as hunger, disease, and injury. Beginning in World War I, in an effort to boost soldiers' morale and remind them of the stakes of victory, the American military formalized a recreation program that sent respectable young women and famous entertainers overseas. Kara Dixon Vuic builds her narrative around the young women from across the United States, many of whom had never traveled far from home, who volunteered to serve in one of the nation's most brutal work environments. From the "Lassies" in France and mini-skirted coeds in Vietnam to Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Monroe, Vuic provides a fascinating glimpse into wartime gender roles and the tensions that continue to complicate American women's involvement in the military arena. The recreation-program volunteers heightened the passions of troops but also domesticated everyday life on the bases. Their presence mobilized support for the war back home, while exporting American culture abroad. Carefully recruited and selected as symbols of conventional femininity, these adventurous young women saw in the theater of war a bridge between public service and private ambition. This story of the women who talked and listened, danced and sang, adds an intimate chapter to the history of war and its ties to life in peacetime.-- ER -