Many women who lived through the Second World War believed it heralded new status and opportunities, but scholars have argued that very little changed. How can these interpretations be reconciled? Making the Best of It examines the ways in which gender and other identities intersected to shape the experiences of female Canadians and Newfoundlanders during the war. The contributors to this thoughtful collection consider mainstream and minority populations, girls and women, and different parts of Canada and Newfoundland. They reassess topics such as women in the military and in munitions factories, and tackle entirely new subjects such as wartime girlhood in Quebec.

Collectively, these essays broaden the scope of what we know about the changes the war wrought in the lives of Canadian women and girls, and address wider debates about memory, historiography, and feminism.

Sarah Glassford is a social historian of Canada who earned her PhD at York University.

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This collection [of essays] importantly brings our attention to voices and perspectives that have excluded from World War II Canadian history and, in doing so, directs us to think further about areas that remain to be explored.

University of Toronto Quarterly

[T]his is a very useful study, one in which the authors make full use of British and American research, and the bibliography alone will make it invaluable.

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