Women in the Second World War, Neil R. Storey and Molly Housego, Shire Publications, 2011, paperback, £6.99 ISBN 9780747808121

This is another slim, attractively produced, modestly priced, informative and well-illustrated addition to the Shire Library focusing upon the role of women in the Second World War, which by 1943 included over 80% of women engaged in war work. Indeed, in addition to the iconic cover illustration of ATS plotters at Coast Defence Artillery Headquarters, Dover, in December 1942, women were employed in a variety of other roles including anti-aircraft operators, fire fighters, Land Girls, nurses, plumbers and secret agents. Neil Storey and Molly Housego with their complementary interests in military, social, costume and textile history have packed an immense amount of detailed information, poignant stories and evocative illustrations in both black-and-white and colour into this compact volume. The variety of illustrated ephemera within its pages gives a taster of the publication's interest. It ranges from Gert and Daisy's Wartime Cookery Book, through a whole range of lapel badges, insignia and recruitment posters, including one depicting a part-time war worker engaging in fisticuffs with Adolph Hitler in 1941, to the uniform jacket of  an ATS driver, c. 1941. It represents excellent value and is probably the best pocket-sized guide to its subject available.