Publisher Description

Exploring how understandings of masculinity were constructed by British First World war servicemen through examination of their personal narratives, including letters home from the front and wartime diaries. This book presents a nuanced investigation of masculine identity in Britain during and after the First World War.

Notes

This book examines British masculine identity in the era of First World War through close readings of the personal narratives of servicemen and veterans

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Abbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction Writing Home: Men's Letters From the Front Wartime Diaries Remembering the Heroic Dead: Letters of Condolence 'Fit Only for Light Work': Disabled Ex-servicemen and the Struggle for Post-war Masculinity 'The Very Basic Test of Manhood': War Memoirs and the Remembering of Martial Masculinities Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Review

'Powerful...well-argued and full of fascinating detail. [Men of War] will appeal to everyone who is interested in understanding better the most traumatic four years in Britain's modern national story. We need studies as fine as this.' - Anthony Fletcher, History Today'Jessica Meyer has written a strong study that combines readability with attention to detail and finds convincing conclusions while acknowledging wide variations in experiences.' - Stuart Halifax, H-Soz-u-Kult

Long Description

Men of War examines five types of personal narrative " including men "s letters home from the front, wartime diaries, letters of condolence, letters from disabled ex-servicemen to the Ministry of Pensions, and post-war memoirs " to explore how understandings of masculinity were constructed by British First World war servicemen. It investigates how specific situations, use of language and the intended audience shaped the ways in which masculine identities were presented in these documents. By placing these individual constructions in the context of cultural ideals of the soldier hero and the good husband and father, it presents a nuanced investigation of what it meant to be a man in Britain during and after the First World War.

Review Quote

"Powerful...well-argued and full of fascinating detail. [Men of War] will appeal to everyone who is interested in understanding better the most traumatic four years in Britain's modern national story. We need studies as fine as this." -- Anthony Fletcher, History Today "Jessica Meyer has written a strong study that combines readability with attention to detail and finds convincing conclusions while acknowledging wide variations in experiences." --Stuart Halifax, H-Soz-u-Kult

Description for Bookstore

This book examines British masculine identity in the era of First World War through close readings of the personal narratives of servicemen and veterans

Details