Book Talks

Earning Their Wings: The WASPs of World War II and the Fight for Veteran Recognition

by Sarah Parry Myers

Thursday, May  16, 2024 | 7 p.m. ET | Virtual

Established by the Army Air Force in 1943, the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program opened to civilian women with a pilot’s license who could afford to pay for their own transportation, training, and uniforms. Despite their highly developed skill set, rigorous training, and often dangerous work, the women of WASP were not granted military status until 1977, denied over three decades of Army Air Force benefits as well as the honor and respect given to male and female World War II veterans of other branches. Sarah Parry Myers not only offers a history of this short-lived program but considers its long-term consequences for the women who participated and subsequent generations of servicewomen and activists.

Sarah Parry Myers is an assistant professor of history at Messiah University in Pennsylvania. She is a former museum curator and NEH grant recipient for a program on female veterans.

Register for “Earning Their Wings” virtual Book Talk

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Divided on D-Day: How Leadership Failures Threatened the Normandy Invasion

by Edward E. Gordon

Thursday, June 20, 2024 | 7 p.m. ET | Virtual

Join co-author of “Divided at D-Day” Edward Gordon for a detailed look at the ways in which national rivalries and personality conflicts among Allied commanders adversely affected the 1944 D-Day invasion and its aftermath during World War II.

Edward E. Gordon, Ph.D., is a professional historian, researcher, writer, and speaker. For a twenty-year period he taught history courses at DePaul University Chicago and also business subjects at Loyola University Chicago and Northwestern. He is the author or co-author of 19 books and has written over 300 articles in journals and trade publications.

Register for “Divided on D-Day” virtual Book Talk

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