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A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II-Sonia Purnell; A Book Critique
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Book Summary
Published in 2020, Sonia Purnell’s book A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II follows the story of one intelligent and courageous lady, Virginia hall and her role in helping American win world war II. In Summary, Gestapo sent out a transmission that was urgent in 1942, saying that Virginia Hall was the biggest threat of all allied spied and she had to be found and destroyed. Hall was a socialite from Baltimore who worked her way through to the Special Operations Executive, a spy organization which was known as Winston Churchill’s “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Welfare.” Hall was the first Allied woman to be deployed to enemy lines. Although she had a prosthetic leg, she played a crucial role in revolutionizing the French resistance to the secret warfare that we know today. Hall developed vast networks for spies throughout France. She was a linchpin for the Resistance movement and she called explosives and weapons down from the skies. Virginia Hall’s face was the cover of all wanted posters and she had a bounty on her head. Despite this, she ignored order after order to vacate. After Hall’s cover was blown, she defied the odds and managed to escape across the Pyrenees into Spain through hiking (Purnell, 2020). However, after a while, she returned to France adamant about the many lives she had to save. After her return, Hall led the guerilla campaign that successfully liberated France swathes from the Nazis. For the first time, based on extensive research, the book’s author Purnell manages to bring to light Hall’s entire secret life, who has been deemed the most notorious spy of the time. This book is an inspiring story of spy craft, resistance, heroism, and personal triumph over adversity.
Book Critique
What I find most appealing and captivating about the book is that it seeks to change women’s negative stereotypes. I like the fact that Purnell makes the story revolve around Virginia. This is a powerful aspect because at the time, and even in some current societies, women were deemed subordinate beings and people did not think they could achieve anything meaningful. However, the author uses Hall to change this barbaric mentality that people have of women. She proves that women are just as much capable as men. The fact that Virginia was fighting for liberation at a time when very few could speaks to her character. She put her life on the line just to be able to save people’s life. The fact that she was doing all this with a prosthetic leg shows she is a strong woman deserving of a hero’s title. Another good thing I like about the book is Purnell’s meticulous research. It is evident that she put a lot of effort and time into developing the book. The text is thoroughly crafted with accurate details and a complete account of every action that Virginia Hall was involved in. I respect the author for doing such a tremendous job. She did not disappoint the readers. Purnell uses her voice and platform to showcase more formidable women in society. This book is a testimony that they are capable and deserves recognition for their bravery and talents.
One of the aspects of this book that I do not like is that Purnell does not fully develop the characters of the supporting casts. After reading the book, one feels that the author did not go the nitty-gritty when it comes to other characters. She left out important information about the supporting characters that could have helped the main plot take shape. This is the only thing that can make me not give the book a ten-star rating. I would have appreciated if the author took more time to develop the characters in detail. Towards the end of the book, the author throws around many names that the reader had not encountered before. Personally, I struggled because I could not remember who these characters were. I had to pause and go back to the beginning of the book to see if I could remember the characters and if they helped Virginia in her mission or if they were against her. This can be confusing and uncomfortable for the reader. Moreover, I would have appreciated it if Purnell had employed more tactics in writing the book. For instance, she should have put more thought into explaining to the reader how Virginia’s mission fits into the larger context of World War II. A person who has read this book will agree that it reached a point when the reader feels like the story was moving too quickly. It was almost as if Purnell was writing while skimming just to push the plot further. Time would pass and the author would mention that Virginia Hall had completed many tasks and achieved a lot, yet there is no mention of the exact work that she did. Nevertheless, these negative aspects do not take away from the fact that Sonia Purnell did an impeccable job in crafting an informative and gripping read. I would advise the people that are yet to read this book to kindly do so as they are missing out on a lot.
References
Purnell, S. (2020). A woman of no importance: the untold story of the American spy who helped win world war II. Penguin Books.
A story for Print and Online Media Publication under Lifestyle Section
A story for Print and Online Media Publication under Lifestyle Section
A CHILD’S MOOD SWINGS MIRRORS FAMILY ISSUES
Whatever happens to parents or caregivers has a direct effect on children. Children’s mental swing reflects the emotional state of their parents or caregivers.
By (Students Name)
Web Headline: Why is your Four-year-old Niece and Nephew always Moody?
Interview: The article features Katy Fellerman, a child’s therapist based in London NW6 and a British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP) member. Contact: +447876354036
Promoting the Story Via Social Media.
Social media is a powerful tool for promoting a product, book, or sharing opinions and ideas. It provides a broader platform, and the audience is far-reaching. To promote the article “A Child’s Mood Swings Mirrors Family Issues” among readers, I will share the articles main lesson and advice; “parents and caregivers’ emotional status and well-being have a direct impact on a child’s moods and mental status,” on my social media networks together with the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to prompt my followers to read more. Secondly, I will ask questions that the article answers, such as “How does your state of mind affect your child’s well-being?” to the readers and provide the link to the article for readers to find answers.
Image 1: Courtesy of Magazine Desk (2015) Effects of a broken family
Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/magazine/you/76974-the-effect-of-a-broken-family
“When parents fight, they are not just creating cracks in their relationship; they are creating cracks in their children’s soul.” Priya Prakash.
“Children experience and display their parents and guardian moods easily than people may think; when children see that their parents and caregivers are sad, upset, or stressed, they too experience the same energy,” said Katy Fellerman, a child therapist in an interview over the phone. The next time your niece or nephew displays unusual mood swings and energy, there is a probability that your sister or brother is undergoing some emotional challenges.
The causes of sudden and constant change in a child’s behaviour can be found in the family. For instance, is there any changes in the family in the recent past? Are the parents or caregivers fighting? Are the parents undergoing separation? Or is one parent or caregiver dealing with personal problems that are negatively affecting their emotions? These activities have a direct impact on a child’s mental state. In the interview, Katy Fellerman says that most early brain development disruption, depression, anxiety and behaviour, sleep, and eating disorders in infants, children, and adolescents result from chronic interparental conflicts. If your student, niece, or nephew becomes unusually moody and develops unusual behaviours, take it as an indicator of emotional difficulties and consult their parents on the family status.
According to World Health Organization, 50% of mental health disorders start by age 14 and are majorly a result of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). Experts in various fields including child psychology list factors such as physical neglect, parental separation, parental death, emotional neglect, physical abuse, domestic violence, and sexual abuse as adverse childhood experiences and the predeterminants of mental health disorders later on in the life of a child. This list identifies family issues such as parental separation, parental death, domestic violence as the primary causes of mental disorders in individuals.
“It is frightening to children to see parents and caregivers fight. When parents and caregivers experience emotional imbalance or regularly engage in intense fights with each other, children do less well and are immensely affected,” says Katy Fellerman in the interview. What does this mean to parents and caregivers? Children’s emotional well-being and ability to escape the statistics that place the onset of mental disorder at 24 years majorly depends on them.
What can parents and caregivers do to prevent family issues from affecting children’s emotional well-being? Katy Fellerman proposes that parents and caregivers address their issues in a better and mature way to solve the impact of family issues on children’s well-being. She says, “children notice arguments and fights regardless of whether done in public or private; what is important is how children interpret and understand the conflicts.” Parents and caregivers should handle their issues so that children do not see them as a potential cause of conflict and rift in the family. Additionally, parents should handle the conflicts so that children do not think they are the cause of the fights. Research shows that these are the major concerns of children when their parents fight.
Secondly, Katy Fellerman proposes that parents should limit incidences of violence and fights in the family. She states, “Although, the “how and why” matters in how children view conflicts; constant fights in a family will affect the emotional well-being of children.” Parents and caregivers should learn to build a peaceful and positive environment for themselves and children in a family to reduce incidences of emotional imbalance and mental swings among infants, children, and adolescents.
Avid Arad said, “The toughest thing for children to deal with when parents are fighting is not the violence on them; it is the violence in the family.”
Book Review
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Book Review
Margot Lee Shetterly wrote the book “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race” in 2016. It revolves around the lives of three black women in the United States in the 1930s and 60s. These women worked as human computers for NASA. The Jim Crow laws were still in force in the South, and this is what makes women’s achievements particularly significant.
Most mathematicians at the time were women. They were referred to as computers, because of racial discrimination; blacks had their office in the west area while the white computers had theirs on the east end. At that time the war was still going on, and as part of the war effort, the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton sought to hire physicists and mathematicians.
The laboratory hired Dorothy Vaughan in 1942. She was working as a math teacher and in the military laundry as well. Although the job as a mathematician for the National Authority Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) required her to move away from her family, she accepted it. Dorothy is a strong and determined woman eager to advocate for equality of women at a time when women were considered to be inferior to men, and black people inferior to whites (Shetterly).
The second woman, Katherine Coleman, learned about the opportunity at NACA from a friend after dropping out of West Virginia where she was a mathematics major. She was moved from the computing division into Flight Research Division. Although she was promoted, her salary was not raised, and Vaughan stepped in to fight for Katherine to get a raise. Katherine solved the cause of a small propeller crashing and makes discovery on the effects of turbulence in one place can affect another plane. She was quite brilliant, and this gained her acceptance among her white peers.
Mary Jackson is the third main character in the book, a black woman at NACA. She had to fight to get more education to become an engineer at the time of racial discrimination. Her son makes history as the first African American child to win the local soap box derby race. Although there is still a lot of discrimination based on gender, Mary Jackson appreciates that the racial barrier has at least been broken (Shetterly).
The book’s timeline spans many important historical events such as the ban on racial segregation in schools made in 1954. Such advances met fierce resistance especially in the South but eventually succeeded. Social conditions for the black people and women looked up. Technological advancements took place such as the use of computers and launching of the first satellite, Sputnik, into space.
Several themes run through the book, the most obvious of which is racism and hard work. Virginia was NACA’s home location, and it was also a state in which racism and racial prejudice were quite prevalent (Allen 70). Despite the fact that women of color were among the most brilliant mathematicians, they were made to sit in a different office, and use separate bathrooms from their white peers. The state of affairs was no better outside work in restaurants, schools, parks, and other social amenities. Even though the United States actively fought oppression and injustices abroad, the same ills went on unchecked in its soil. Discrimination at NACA kept black employees from doing their best. The instance where Katherine greeted a white man who walked away showed just how bad the situation was (Shetterly).
A second theme is hard work and persistence. The black women had to overcome a lot of obstacles including racism and gender-based discrimination. Katherine Johnson made a lot of contribution to aviation but was still forbidden from sitting in editorial meetings. She did not give up but kept asking many questions and eventually broke through. The author also emphasizes that hard work coupled with luck will ultimately lead to success; this is described as serendipity (Allen 71). Vaughan did the same. She taught herself how to code when she felt that computers would take over her job. The women were lucky to secure employment at NACA, not because they were not qualified but because of the segregation at the time. Gloria Champine put to clinch a job as Technical Assistant to the Division Chief of Space Systems. This position had previously held only by men, and she had to be interviewed severally but excelled each time. All these women put themselves in a position to succeed.
The events in the book happen during World War II at a time of contrasting advances in technology but contrastingly reluctant reforms in the social situation. Countries such as the Soviet Union and the United States carried out research geared towards landing the first man in the moon, a feat which they accomplished (Allen 70). However, the United States was quite reluctant to make similar efforts towards achieving equality in terms of gender and race.
Hidden Figures is an enthralling story about black women who rose when all the odds were stacked up against them. The author tells a story of perseverance, hard work, persistence, and luck. It is an inspiring story that helps other women in difficult and overwhelming situations to never give up. It also teaches us about our country’s history and how hard people had to fight for the equality and freedom that we now enjoy. It inspires the reader to never give up hope even when they feel they have no chance of success.
Works Cited
Allen, Kera Jones. “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly.” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 39.3 (2017): 70-71.
Shetterly, Margot Lee. Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race. William Morrow, 2016.