The League of Wives, Heath Hardage Lee
The League of Wives, Heath Hardage Lee
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The League of Wives
The Untold Story of the Women Who Took on the U.S. Government to Bring Their Husbands Home

Author: Heath Hardage Lee

Narrator: Heath Hardage Lee

Unabridged: 10 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/02/2019


Synopsis

"Listeners are transported back to the 1960s by Heath Hardage Lee and her painstaking research... Her fascination with her subjects is infectious. Listeners who are fans of history will find much to admire in this little-known story." — AudioFile Magazine

This program is read by the author.

The true story of the fierce band of women who battled Washington—and Hanoi—to bring their husbands home from the jungles of Vietnam.

On February 12, 1973, one hundred and fifteen men who, just six years earlier, had been high flying Navy and Air Force pilots, shuffled, limped, or were carried off a huge military transport plane at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. These American servicemen had endured years of brutal torture, kept shackled and starving in solitary confinement, in rat-infested, mosquito-laden prisons, the worst of which was The Hanoi Hilton.

Months later, the first Vietnam POWs to return home would learn that their rescuers were their wives, a group of women that included Jane Denton, Sybil Stockdale, Louise Mulligan, Andrea Rander, Phyllis Galanti, and Helene Knapp. These women, who formed The National League of Families, would never have called themselves “feminists,” but they had become the POW and MIAs most fervent advocates, going to extraordinary lengths to facilitate their husbands’ freedom—and to account for missing military men—by relentlessly lobbying government leaders, conducting a savvy media campaign, conducting covert meetings with antiwar activists, most astonishingly, helping to code secret letters to their imprisoned husbands.

In an unpausable work of narrative non-fiction, Heath Hardage Lee tells the story of these remarkable women for the first time. The League of Wives is certain to be on everyone’s must-listen list.

“A remarkable true story of love, war, courage, constancy and change—as a group of naval housewives transformed themselves into powerful advocates for their missing husbands." — Liza Mundy, Author of the New York Times Bestseller Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II

About Heath Hardage Lee

Heath Hardage Lee is an award-winning historian, biographer, and curator. Heath’s second book, The League of Wives is being developed into a television series. Heath and her work have been featured on the Today Show, C-Span, and on the Smithsonian Channel’s America’s Hidden Stories. She also writes about history and politics for publications such as Time, The Hill, The Atlantic and White House History Quarterly. She lives in Roanoke, Virginia, with her husband Chris, her children Anne Alston and James, and her French bulldog Dolly Parton.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jenny on August 20, 2019

3.5 stars There, there darlin, I know you are upset. I promise you we’re doing everything possible to get information about your POW/MIA husband. We’re asking the Swiss Red Cross to intercede with Hanoi and give us a status report. Now dry your eyes and powder your nose. Leave it to us. We’ll get res......more

Goodreads review by Thomas on November 22, 2023

Ms. Lee relied on much of her research for her book from the military wife's whose husbands were held captive by the Viet Cong. Officially the war ended in 1975, but hard feelings and some bitterness still exists among the soldiers who fought in Vietnam. Ms. Lee's account is about the brave women wh......more

Goodreads review by Jordan on August 29, 2019

This book was a slog to get through, to the point that I didn't even care at the end when the POWs were released--I just wanted to finish. The author also did a fantastic job making it as difficult as possible for me to empathize with the wives. (view spoiler)[ I'd say it's just because I personally don't have anyt (hide spoiler)]......more

Goodreads review by Terry on May 16, 2020

Some heroes wear uniforms and other heroes are married to them. This is the story of heroes who fought bravely in Vietnam, were captured and cruelly tortured while held prisoner. It's also the story of heroes who fought bravely and unceasingly to bring them home. Soon to be a movie, but I highly reco......more

Goodreads review by Christine on May 14, 2020

The League Of Wives By: Heath Hardage Lee 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ It’s been a long time since I read something that truly moved me in a very personal way. This book is about the wives of the POW/MIA soldiers who were in Vietnam. 🇻🇳 Sybil Stockdale’s husband Jim, was a Naval pilot who was shot down and captured in......more


Quotes

"Listeners are transported back to the 1960s by Heath Hardage Lee and her painstaking research...Her fascination with her subjects is infectious. Listeners who are fans of history will find much to admire in this little-known story." -AudioFile Magazine

Praise for Heath Lee's Winnie Davis:

“Can there be any major Civil War story that we haven’t heard? The answer is, yes! Here comes Heath Lee with the fascinating—and surprising—life of Varina Anne ‘Winie’ Davis. . . . Clear, strong writing brings the history, mores, and manners of the day brilliantly to life.”—Lee Smith, author of Guests on Earth and Fair and Tender Ladies

“Heath Lee has written a beautiful and thoughtful biography of Winnie Davis. . . . This is, in a sense, a biography of America in the aftermath of a civil war as much as it is a captivating story of a young woman who struggled to preserve her individuality when others elevated her to an icon.”—Carol Berkin, author of Civil War Wives and Wondrous Beauty