The Unwomanly Face Of War: An Oral History Of Women In World War II

"Think of Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich as the Studs Terkel of the former Soviet Union. Her books are compilations of oral history; she’s conducted hundreds of interviews with survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, veterans of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and, in this case, female veterans of what Russians call the Great Patriotic War. The Soviet Union lost an unfathomable 20 million soldiers and civilians in World War II. Alexievich spoke exclusively to women, who served on the front to a degree unmatched in any other country. They were astonished that someone asked for their stories. We’re astonished, in turn, by their first-person accounts of horror, heroism, love, patriotism, loss and disillusion. The translation is by the famed husband-wife team of Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, who live up to their reputation."