MINEFIELDS AND MINISKIRTS Australian Women and the Vietnam War " McHugh, Siobhan . 295pp; illustrations. Up to a thousand Australian women were in wartime Vietnam during the sixties and early seventies - as entertainers, army and civilian nurses, secretaries, consular staff and more. They were feted and pampered, patronised and harassed; and a few were assaulted.

Minefields and Miniskirts presents the funny, tragic and intensely personal stories of over fifty women who were deeply involved in the Vietnam war, either in the combat zone or on the homefront. It is a meticulously-researched account of a hidden side of the Vietnam war. In this moving and enlightening book, ordinary women reveal how they surmounted crises, overcame abuse, discovered what they believed in and found their true potential. Though their backgrounds varied as much as their experiences, they have this in common: Vietnam transformed their lives