Filling in the Pieces

Recognizing that women often find themselves overlooked in written and oral history, Filling in the Pieces: Women Tell Their Stories of the Twentieth Century provides readers with personal narratives from women across the globe. The text includes observations and insights from women who were born in the earliest years of the twentieth century to those who witnessed two world wars, landing on the moon, the birth of the internet, and much more.

As an oral history project, students of Michaela Reaves collected individual narratives of the events of one woman’s life. Each narrative reflects the cultural mores of the world she inhabited, as well personal reflections on particular periods of her life.

The text is organized chronologically and divided into four distinct parts with each part centering about a particular time period between 1900 and 2000. Each includes an introduction to provide readers with valuable historical context followed by a collection of interviews of women who lived across the globe, from Singapore to Estonia, San Francisco to Calcutta, Holland to Louisiana, and everywhere in between. Discussion questions throughout the text encourage critical thought and meaningful conversation.

Filling in the Pieces is an ideal resource for courses in 20th century history. It transcends the traditional structure of only dates and wars to give voice to those living the “underside” of history.