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Loading... Forgotten Lunatics of the Great War (edition 2004)by Peter Barham (Author)
Work InformationForgotten Lunatics of the Great War by Peter Barham
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Although the shell-shocked British soldier of World War I has been a favored subject in both fiction and nonfiction, focus has been on the stories of officers, and the history of the rank-and-file servicemen who were psychiatric casualties has never been told. This profoundly moving book recounts the poignant, sometimes ribald histories of this neglected group for the first time. Peter Barham draws on reports from the front lines, case histories, personal letters, and war pensions files to trace the lives and fortunes of a large cast of ex-servicemen who suffered mental breakdowns. He describes their confinements to asylums, the reactions of families to their relatives' plight, the turmoil of the soldiers when they returned home--and the uphill struggle they faced trying to secure justice from the bureaucratic labyrinth that was the Ministry of Pensions. His book gives a new perspective to the impact of the Great War and to current controversies about disputed postwar maladies. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)616.85Technology Medicine and health Diseases Diseases of nervous system and mental disorders MiscellaneousLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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This book concentrates however on the poor sods of the other ranks who, denuded of any understanding from those who stayed at home or those officers commanding them from the plushy chairs, first were refused their proper diagnosis of shell-shock, then quickly hidden in asylums for the insane, rather than properly treated.
As a result the content is, in hindsight, quite heartbreaking and I found myself gritting my teeth rather often at the class-driven disregard and callousness directed at people who indeed had been largely led to the Big Meatgrinder in France and other parts of Europe like sheep to the slaughterbank, and who, when they did their bit alright and even managed not to end up as a casualty of needless attrition, weren't even properly cared for. And don't say they didn't all know better, what this book really does is show in detail the cruelty and callousness of classdriven medicine with all its prejudices.
A great and interesting read, recommended for everyone interested in shell-shock and the other ranks. ( )