The iconic bicep-flexing poster image of "Rosie the Riveter" has long conveyed the impression that women were welcomed into the World War II work force and admired for helping "free a man to fight." Donna Knaff, however, shows that "Rosie" only revealed part of the reality and that women depicted in other World War II visual art--both in the private sector and the military--reflected decidedly mixed feelings about the status of women within American society.

Beyond Rosie the Riveter takes readers back to a time before television's dominance, to the golden age of print art and its...