Book Review: Slacks & Calluses

In war time San Diego, there is two types of women, those who wear skirts to work and those who wear slacks. In this book Slacks & Calluses by Sandra Gilbert, tells the true story of two young women working in the factories in war time San Diego. They were slack wearing women working during the Summer of 1943 to help the war effort. The young teachers, one an art teacher and the other an English teacher, worked the swing shift on a B-24 production line at a bomber plant.

The author goes into telling the very detailed experiences from applying for the job to working on the bomber and to the last shift. These young teachers did not know much about the Liberators besides someone calling them out as they pass through the sky, but they soon would know and have much pride seeing them fly by, as if maybe that was one of the planes they helped build.

The author does a great job using descripted details.

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When the ladies rode the bus, the author tells every detail of how the young women felt about the MACs (servicemen) and other ladies that were offered seats and not them. In one instance the author describes one of the women that got offered one of the seats, "One was a company nurse, all in spotless white which she tried to keep as far as possible from our dusty blues.." One of the cool things the author did was how the young women would take experiences from their school job teaching and apply it at the work place.

In one instance the teachers go on to say that a new dress code would not last long because they knew from teaching that it was difficult to keep girls wearing mandatory uniforms. In another instance, she questions if it would be better to do one part of the plane while Dusty does the other and he says she sounded like a school teacher.

Another interesting part in the book was that the women were not seen as women to most people because they wore slacks as mentioned before other women got more attention than the ones who wore slacks. An example of this is when the author writes, "It was bad enough that store clerks ignore us, to have the members of our own sex scorn us, but what really hurt was the attitude of men." The class implications were very interesting, a person of a time today would not of thought of how women would have been treated just because they wore slacks.

The way the author wrote the book from beginning to end keeps the reader intrigued throughout. The reader will find themselves picturing the application process from every step of the Employment Induction. They will also find themselves learning everything about the work these young women did. The way the author did not cram a lot of information in this short read but organized it nicely, making it a great read. The author does a good job bringing good information through a firsthand account of two women that worked in the war effort.

Gilbert makes the book interesting by showing what it may have looked like bringing drawings in by Clara Allen. These drawings include where the young women stood on the bus that they could hardly be offered a seat to fixing plane with Dusty and to learning the layout of where everything was in the plane. These drawings intrigue the imagination along with the vivid descriptions throughout the book.

In conclusion, the author does great overall in the Slacks & Calluses. The way she made the reader feel that they were there right beside the characters going through the experiences with them. The pictures where a good add too, gives the reader a visual picture along with the detailed words used. The book was short but well organized and written smoothly. The reader will learn what went on behind the iconic "We Can Do It" poster. The women in this book are just a few that helped so much in the war effort during WWII it was one of the truly defining moments of what women can do. If someone is looking for a good short read especially about women in history or just about how civilians took up jobs in WWII this is a must read.