In 16th century Europe, Spanish fashion set the pace for trends among the noble classes. Both men and women took to the Spanish style of close-fitted doublets, narrowed sleeves and waists and a general austerity in color choice. One accessory of clothing that came from Spain and lived a brief life of popularity in fashion circles was the berne or sbernia (Italian.) This rectangular mantle would have been worn by women as a covering over the head and shoulders or wrapped under one arm and knotted at the opposite shoulder in an ‘apostolic’ fashion. Its male counterpart was a cloak worn in the military and of similar style though constructed of coarse wool and imported from Ireland (Hibernia)– suggesting another etymology for the word. 
Essentially the berne or sbernia was a draped cloak meant to adorn the feminine posture, reminiscent of the classical period and somewhat incongruous to a contemporary fashion of wide farthingales and bolstered shoulder padding. Nonetheless it had its moment: a woman of the mid-1500s wearing her berne and paired with a nobleman in his Spanish cape, who donned high collar and trim doublet and wore his swept hilt rapier at his side, made a stately image.
An Illustrated History of Women in World War II: Sixty-five years ago, in a time of oil shortages, rising food prices and war, American women found the strength and skill to meet tremendous challenges. Their resourceful and energetic response to crisis, pictorially portrayed for the first time in the book When Our Mothers Went to War: An Illustrated History of Women in World War II, is an inspiring example for the nation today.
The pressures of World War II on the home front and overseas thrust women into roles previously denied them by custom and law, and generated impressive new capabilities. With the men gone, women stepped up to factory, farm and office jobs of every kind to keep the nation running. They also salvaged an incredible array of needed commodities, recycling everything from nylons to bacon fat. In victory gardens and neighborhood canning centers, women joined together to preserve local foods and ensure food security.
Their resilience and hard work did not end on the home front. Overseas, as frontline nurses, WACs, spies, news correspondents, resistance fighters, USO entertainers, Red Cross volunteers, and even prisoners of war, women risked the intensity and violence of the combat zone.
When people think of women in World War II, they envision Rosie the Riveter or the “kiss in Times Square.” Women did that and so much more. When Our Mothers Went to War intermixes hundreds of photographs and a concise overview of the war with women’s personal stories to show the courage and accomplishments of U.S. women in a dangerous time.
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About the Author: Margaret Regis, a writer and independent historian, is the coauthor of two previous books on World War II: The Attack on Pearl Harbor: An Illustrated History and U.S. Submarines in World War II: An Illustrated History.
When Our Mothers Went to War: An Illustrated History of Women in World War II |
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