In a more whimsical vein comes Bob Mathews’ Chicks Dig Fries: A Guide for Clueless Men. This slim volume offers tips on how men can win the affectionate approval of their female friends and lovers. Drawing on some apparently hard-won experience in the lost-love department, TV executive Mathews delivers handy advice accompanied by his own cutesy color cartoons, one tidbit to a page. This stuff hardly qualifies as even pop psychology “Chicks dig . . . a guy who makes a big deal out of her birthday”; or, “Chicks dig . . . a guy who will share the at-home work load.” And yes, chicks dig chocolate and pillows and the gentlemanly touch and cotton balls and potpourri and honesty. And a whole lot of other things. One gets the feeling that this lightweight but mildly amusing primer might have been commissioned by a committee of manipulative women. At any rate, you can be sure that the book should find its way into the Christmas stocking of many a (presumably clueless) guy. Ephemeral fun.
Valiant Women is a vital and engrossing attempt to correct the record and rightfully celebrate the achievements of female veterans of World War II.
