Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Ordinary Women in Extraordinary Circumstances
Major General Mari K. Eder, a retired Army major general, knows quite a bit about being in extraordinary circumstances. A historian, she also focuses on telling the stories of “ordinary women” who have also found themselves in extraordinary circumstances and risen to meet the challenge throughout the 20th century.
Eder served as the Commanding General of the United States Army Reserve Joint and Special Troops Support Command; directed media relations during NATO operations in Kosovo and at the inception of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan; served as the Director of Public Affairs at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany; serves as an adjunct professor at the NATO School, Sweden’s International Security Command and Norway’s Military Command and Staff Centre.
Her books include the stories of 15 women in World War II in “The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line: Untold Stories of the Women Who Changed the Course of World War II” and the stories of Mae Foley and the 2,000 women who joined her auxiliary police force in “The Girls Who Fought Crime: The Untold True Story of the Country’s First Female Investigator and Crime-Fighting Squads.”
Currently working on a book about women who changed sports, Eder will lead us through an empowering event celebrating not only the history of these ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, but also what we can carry forward with us by having these stories finally told.
Ordinary Women in Extraordinary Circumstances
Major General Mari K. Eder, a retired Army major general, knows quite a bit about being in extraordinary circumstances. A historian, she also focuses on telling the stories of “ordinary women” who have also found themselves in extraordinary circumstances and risen to meet the challenge throughout the 20th century.
Eder served as the Commanding General of the United States Army Reserve Joint and Special Troops Support Command; directed media relations during NATO operations in Kosovo and at the inception of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan; served as the Director of Public Affairs at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany; serves as an adjunct professor at the NATO School, Sweden’s International Security Command and Norway’s Military Command and Staff Centre.
Her books include the stories of 15 women in World War II in “The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line: Untold Stories of the Women Who Changed the Course of World War II” and the stories of Mae Foley and the 2,000 women who joined her auxiliary police force in “The Girls Who Fought Crime: The Untold True Story of the Country’s First Female Investigator and Crime-Fighting Squads.”
Currently working on a book about women who changed sports, Eder will lead us through an empowering event celebrating not only the history of these ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, but also what we can carry forward with us by having these stories finally told.
