This book examines the soldaderas of the Mexican Revolution and the milicianas of the Spanish Civil War.

Introduction -- The haunting pain of a phantom limb -- Between losing and killing fear -- Discursive battlefields -- Death stories -- Adelita's death -- The "Trece Rosas" and other death stories -- Writing violence -- Dancing with Pancho Villa's head : Nellie Campobello's Cartucho -- In the shadows : MariÌ?a Teresa LeoÌ?n's short stories -- A remainder and a reminder -- To remember is a ghostly verb -- Who will talk about us when we are dead?.