3 RC profs to host book-signings, take part in discussion on women in WWII

For immediate release – 9/29/10
Contact: Chuck Brown, Communications – 815-226-3374

"We Are a College at War: Women Working for Victory in World War II” by Rockford College professors Catherine Forslund, history; Mary Weaks-Baxter, English; and emerita professor Christine Bruun, psychology, was released August 15 by Southern Illinois University Press and is available at bookstores and at Amazon.com. 

"The book argues that a women’s movement based on the political concept of care and rooted in Rockford alumna Jane Addams’ legacy persisted through the war period and beyond,” says Weaks-Baxter.

"While highlighting voices from the Rockford College community, the book weaves together letters, speeches, newspaper stories and ads, personal recollections, and photographs with national historical context and analysis to show more generally the ways in which young American women and college students were involved in the war effort.”

The three professors plan several book-signings and talks in the next few weeks. They will appear at an event called "Capturing History” October 7 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Memorial Hall. They will also take part in a panel discussion with author Emily Yellin and WWII-era Rockford College alumnae October 14, 7:30 p.m. in the Maddox Theatre and will sign their book afterward.

Yellin is author of "Our Mother’s War” about American women at home and at the front. She will speak October 14, 4 p.m. in the Maddox Theatre.

A website that provides supplemental materials for the book, "We Are a College at War: Women Working for Victory in WWII” may be accessed at www.weareacollegeatwar.org.

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