Newly liberated from nearly four brutal years under Japanese control the people of Indonesia faced great uncertainty in October 1945. As the British Army attempted to take control of the city of Surabaya maintain order and deal with surrendered Japanese personnel their actions were interpreted by the young residents of Surabaya as a plan to restore Dutch colonial rule. In response the youth of the city seized Japanese arms and repelled the force sent to occupy the city. They then held off British reinforcements for two weeks battling tanks and heavy artillery with little more than light weapons and sheer audacity. Though eventually defeated Surabaya's defenders had set the stage for Indonesia's national revolution.

When you think of the American Revolution, perhaps you envision the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's infamous ride, or George Washington crossing the Delaware River. But there are many other, lesser-known stories of the war that engulfed women's lives as it did the lives of their fathers, husbands, and sons. Some women served as spies, nurses, and water carriers; some helped as fundraisers, writers, and couriers; and still others functioned as resistors, rescuers, and—surprisingly—even soldiers. Most often, their names did not make it into history books. In Women Heroes of the American Revolution, these fascinating women step into the spotlight they deserve. You'll learn about such brave rebels as Martha Bratton, who blew up a supply of gunpowder to keep it out of the hands of approaching British troops and boldly claimed, "It was I who did it!"; 16-year-old Sybil Ludington, who rode her horse Star twice as far as the legendary Paul revere did in order to help her father, Colonel Ludington, muster his scattered troops to fight the British; and Deborah Sampson Gannett, who bound her chest, dressed as a man, enlisted in the Continental Army as Robert Shurtliff, and served undetected for three years alongside her fellow soldiers. These and 17 other inspiring stories of women and girls contributing to our nation's independence are recounted through energetic narrative and revealing letters and documents that allow us to hear the voices of the women themselves and those who knew and admired them.

When the crucial years after the Korean War are remembered today, histories about North Korea largely recount a grand epic of revolution centering on the ascent of Kim Il Sung to absolute power. Often overshadowed in this storyline, however, are the myriad ways the Korean population participated in party-state projects to rebuild their lives and country after the devastation of the war. North Korea's Mundane Revolution traces the origins of the country's long-term durability in the questions that Korean women and men raised about the modern individual, housing, family life, and consumption. Using a wide range of overlooked sources, Andre Schmid examines the formation of a gendered socialist lifestyle in North Korea by focusing on the localized processes of socioeconomic and cultural change. This style of "New Living" replaced radical definitions of gender and class revolution with the politics of individual self-reform and cultural elevation, leading to a depoliticization of the country's political culture in the very years that Kim Il Sung rose to power.