Vera Brittain worked as a voluntary nurse in France and Malta during the First World War. After the armistice, she […]
For the Sake of Humans: Animal Casualties and Medical Testing in Modern War
During the First World War, a group of British and American military engineers conducted a series of experiments to determine […]
Clara Immerwahr: Science’s Tragic and Surprisingly Modern Heroine
A woman is in an unhappy marriage. After much stress and hard work, and a healthy dose of sexism in […]
Complicating the Canon of the First World War: A Review of Ellen La Motte’s Backwash of War, edited by Cynthia Wachtell
Think back on any syllabi of the First World War and the literature represented in it. For me, those titles […]
A Woman Who Wrote About War: Recovering Ellen N. La Motte’s The Backwash of War
I love the old American spiritual “Down by the Riverside.” In fact, my first book borrows its title, War No […]
“Considerable Grief”: Dead Bodies, Mortuary Science, and Repatriation after the Great War
In September 1919, Mary McKenney was forced to relive the horrors of her husband Arthur’s death. Sergeant Arthur McKenney was […]
Colorizing and Fictionalizing the Past: A Review of Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old
Five years ago, the Imperial War Museum in London contacted Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame) and tasked […]
Quacks, Alternative Medicine, and the U.S. Army in the First World War
During the First World War, the Surgeon General received numerous pitches for miraculous cures for sick and wounded American soldiers. […]
Bearing the Brunt of Their Father’s Service: Ex-Soldiers and Child Murder, 1914-1935
In May 2011, British Lance Corporal Liam Culverhouse assaulted his seven-week-old daughter, resulting in severe brain damage and fractures to […]
“Everything Seems Wrong:” The Postwar Struggles of One Female Veteran of the First World War
Around the world, ceremonies, public art installations, concerts, lectures, and educational events are commemorating the fallen of the First World […]
