War Wounds: Medicine and the Trauma of Conflict
How war shaped modern medicine...
Gassing, disfigurement, shell shock, dysentery, sexually transmitted diseases, malaria and combat fatigue are all traumas of conflict experienced by soldiers in the major wars of the last hundred years.
As war and weaponry advanced so too did its destructive capacity, forcing medicine to develop advanced techniques and procedures to deal with the new volume and nature of these battlefield casualties.
War Wounds is an in-depth exploration of how the history of warfare and the history of medicine are closely intertwined. It is a masterpiece of literature bringing together for the first time historians, medical practitioners and researchers, former and serving military medical officers, surgeons, nurses and veterans to explore the impact of war, wounds and trauma through the historical record, reported narratives and personal experiences.
War Wounds investigates all major wars of the 20th century and the specific medical advances that developed with each, including shell shock, self-inflicted wounds and reconstructive surgery in WWI, the medical experiments and disease in the Nazi death camps of WWII, the effects of Agent Orange, anti-personnel mines and sexually transmitted infections in the Vietnam War, frost-bite in the Korean War and Australian nurses in the current war in Afghanistan.
War Wounds is a unique book, offering considerable insight into an aspect of war that is often mentioned but seldom explained as it is here. It will appeal to anyone with an interest in warfare or medicine, whether casual or professional.
Joint volume editors:
Ashley Ekins is Head of the Military History Section at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. He specialises in the history of the First World War and the Vietnam War. He has published widely on the role of Australian soldiers in the First World War.
Elizabeth Stewart is a historian in the Military History Section at the Australian War Memorial. She worked for several years as a research officer on the Official History of Australia’s Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948-75 and from 2004-8 was content leader for the Vietnam section of the Memorial’s Conflicts 1945 to today galleries.
Title: War Wounds: Medicine and the Trauma of Conflict
Editors: Ashley Ekins & Elizabeth Stewart
Publishers: Exisle Publishing
ISBN: 9781921497872
RRP: $49.99
For more information or to purchase War Wounds, visit www.exislepublishing.com.au
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