The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers

Cobbs (history, Texas A&M Univ.; American Umpire) shines a new light on the history of suffrage and women's rights in the United States, using as a lens the servicewomen enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War I. Dubbed the Hello Girls, these women operated the telephone switchboards that facilitated communication between Allied forces and worked, in President Woodrow Wilson's words, "wherever men have worked and on the very skirts and edges of the battle itself." In this groundbreaking work, Cobbs weaves the trials and triumphs of America's first female soldiers (although they wouldn't win the right to claim that distinction until 1979) with the fight for women's rights and the rising waves of feminism. Although presenting a story of national interest and international impact, the author manages to keep the story personal and relatable by focusing on the experiences of the women in the Signal Corps.