Singled Out: How Two Million British Women Survived Without Men After the First World War Paperback – October 29, 2008

This is a great book with lots of good insights and meticulous research.It has a new focus on the years right after the 1st World War that has been underrepresented.It establishes how the unforeseen repercussion of the loss of a certain class of young men had far reaching results for the women left behind.I found it engrossing and very much worth reading, and would recommend it for any one who is interested in the years between the great wars as well as women 's emancipation.

This book is a gem!Historical, informative & empathetic!

Virginia Nicholson did her homework! She had plenty of actual interviews, written letters, as well as poems these women of England had written regarding the loss of loved ones and the lack of men after the "Great War". It was for me, interesting how these women developed over time, and the greatness a few of these women brought to womankind. I do recommend reading "Singled Out" if you enjoy women's studies and the birth of equality for men and women.

I was very interested in the topic and enjoyed the stories and history that was shared. I struggled a bit with the format of how it was written. Half way through the book I started to lose interest. It felt like each chapter spend a great deal of time reminding you of past characters and events then it did it introducing new ideas and topics.

I grew up with teachers from this generation. I find the 1920s-1940s fascinating. I have been influenced by these unmarried women and been proud of their contributions to British society. Yes, we should be grateful to our mothers, but they were often burdened by so much and could be bitter. And sometimes jealous of other women. We needed both. Felt awful about the men and how we ignored them and just did not understand what they went through. Many returned soldiers seemed to have been hidden, as well as their voices. We thought shell shock was some sort of cowardice. We were distant from male relatives who could not adjust to civilian life. Sad times.

This book was a purchase I made because I read many books on WWI. I thought it would be really interesting to find out how women of similar age got on without a naturally balanced number of men around. The book traces many different women throughout their lives, both before, during and after the war. Although I got quite a few weird looks from my girlfriend whilst I was reading this book, the book met my expectations but I also found the stories somewhat sad. The author points out stories of several women who lost men very close to them during WWI. Some of these women never married or even dated after the war!!! That seems like a very lonely existence that these women could do very little to change without major interruptions to their lives (and by major I mean leaving the U.K. and your family behind to go elsewhere in the Commonwealth to find a mate). On another note, I liked the fact that many of these women had cats as companions; something to which I can relate. The contributions many of these women made to improving the rights of women in the U.K. or changing society's impression of "spinsters" was phenomenally impressive.

Good social history for understanding both the married and single women who lived during this period. We baby boomers grew up with these women in our lives and this book gives insight into who/why women married and how the unmarried women helped us gain careers. The single women were the first generation who had to support themselves by working outside the home with the knowledge that they would never marry. They changed society's attitudes to accepting women in the work place.

A really interesting look at the "Surplus Women" of WWI—women who never married because warfare claimed (by death, shell shock, or grievous injury) the men who would have been their husbands. Nicholson covers the social discrimination and economic privation that many of these women initially suffered. After showing how working-class women were trapped in those conditions, often for a lifetime, she spends the remainder of the book demonstrating how this unplanned state of "spinsterhood" actually opened up women's roles within the middle and upper classes and permanently changed Britain's social, political, and economic milieus. Reproductions of original photos and era-specific cartoons, excerpts from memoirs and diaries, and an extensive section on notes and sources all add to the book's appeal.

This author is amazing. Interesting, well researched. A wonderful book.

A book that will astonish and inspire its readers: male and female. Extremely well researched this book covers the reasons for the two million surplus women after WW1, a portrayal of the pain and grief these women experienced and how they coped, or not, without men.Nicholson drawing on sometimes un-published memoirs written at the end of extraordinary lives lived, recounts what some women accomplished in their lives in the lack of opportunities to get married and have children. How these women collectively carved out the infrastructure that enables women today to live the lives that we do, with rights and opportunities available to us. Nicholson argues that if it had not been for these surplus women, women in the 21st century would probably be leading very different lives. I find it hard to counter this argument.Some of the recounts are extremely moving and because of this thought provoking. Take time when you read this book to think how you would have felt and coped if placed in the same situation. I for one know that I would not have coped well, which makes me admire the pluck and energy of the heroines of this book all the more.Some seek to criticise this book on the basis that it is canted more towards telling the story of the experiences of middle and upper class women and I agree that they dominate this book. However, there are sections that cover the plight of the poor working woman. Nicholson could only work with the information available to her and the lasting written word of working women, (and men) is all too often absent from historical record.You will end this book feeling profoundly grateful to these women for all that they have achieved for us and how much all of our lives have improved in the last one hundred years. We complain about our lot, but really we still have never had it so good.You will not be disappointed.

I really enjoyed this book and as a single woman identified with and was inspired by the accounts given in the book. I have only marked it down as I began to find it a bit confusing and repetitive.Do read it if you want to learn something extraordinary about this period.

More than 700,000 British men were killed during World War One and this book explores the experiences of the approximately two million or so ‘surplus’ women (as they were called by the tabloids) – mainly middle class and aged between aged 25 to 34 - who were left partner-less as a result of the gender imbalance. (There was a gender imbalance even before the war, hence the discrepancy in figures).These women had to vye with other women for the far fewer number of men available to support them or support themselves in a world that was increasingly hostile towards women who now found themselves competing with men in the workplace. Discrimination was rife. They were resented for "stealing" men's jobs and for many middle class professions, such as the civil service, teaching and medicine, the end of the war marked the formalisation of ‘marriage bars’ where women were sacked or forced to resign if they married. (This was in spite of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919 which was meant to prevent discrimination because of sex or marriage within public offices and professions).At the other end of the scale, the vast majority of working class women worked in factories, shops or in domestic service enduring appalling conditions - 12-hour shifts in dirty, dark and overcrowded conditions with no paid holidays were not uncommon - only to return at night to cold, damp one roomed bedsits or hostels with not enough food and no prospect of anything changing.Some unmarried women might be allowed to live with relatives, on sufferance, to become unpaid long-term carers of elderly parents, babysitters to nephews and nieces or general ‘dogsbodies’ – shopping, cooking or helping to arrange social or domestic activities. Yet more women joined forces with other women (sometimes in lesbian relationships, sometimes not, but usually assumed to be and made fun of as a result) to share expenses and for companionship.This book draws on a huge number of published and unpublished biographies, diaries and memoirs from all levels of society, as well as interviews carried out by the author herself, to build a picture: there are stories of heart breaking loneliness, blighted potential and missed opportunities, but also those of liberation, independence and freedom from those who made a new life for themselves. The author looks at some of the benefits of enforced singleness: marriage for working-class women would often condemn them to "a kind of house-arrest", sentenced to a lifetime of domestic servitude, while the enforced leisure of upper-class wives meant that they often led lives of "exemplary futility".If I have a complaint about this book, it’s in the way that the material is organised. The seven chapters are organised into themes, but the text darts backwards and forwards between the same contributors and testimonials across all of them which makes it quite difficult to follow any overall storyline. There are a lot of facts and figures, but they don’t always knit together into a satisfying whole. Just as you get interested in one person’s story, then the text cuts off and darts off to talk about someone else. I think I would have preferred fewer examples, but more space devoted to each of them.There is a large bibliography at the end for further reading and 60 illustrations and photos scattered throughout the text.

An informative non fiction collection of information and data from the post ww1 era. It explains many aspects of societal change for women, both working woman and the well to do. For any one interested in the progress for the rights of women in the 20th century its an informative and enjoyable read.