Wounded: A New History of the Western Front in World War I - Tapa dura

"Wounded combines a fresh-and vital-perspective on World War One, supported by an enviable depth of research. But what elevates Emily Mayhew's book above the many others on the war is the compassion, the well of emotional resonance underpinned by scholarship as easily accessible to the layperson as it is to the academic. It brings the reader closer to a visceral experience of the twentieth century's first and arguably most terrible world war and its lingering human cost. It should be on the bookshelf of anyone who wants to understand the Great War." -Jacqueline Winspear, author of MaisieDobbs

"This is a beautifully, heartbreakingly told book, extremely well researched, and timely for any time. It wasn't the war that ended all wars, but the view that Mayhew weaves of this war, and all wars, will stay with you." -- Philadelphia Inquirer

"Beautifully written, this harrowing trip to the trenches of World War I tells one of medicine's most pivotal chapters with the pace and tension of a novel." -- Discover

"This is a fascinating look at the World War I battlefield through the eyes of casualties and medics. Mayhew, an examiner at the Imperial College London School of Medicine who was unsatisfied with largely fictional portrayals of wounded soldiers and their caregivers, set out to construct a more fact-based historical analysis. It's an atypical narrative history, but it shines." --Army magazine

"A singular work... Mayhew develops her unconventional history like a novel... Mayhew's exceptional presentation brings to life unforgettable struggles from a long-ago war, when common men and women rose to uncommon heights of bravery and compassion." --Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)

"These voices of battle-resigned, happy, content, afraid, and stoic-give us a history of World War I that we have never quite experienced. VERDICT: A fascinating narrative, taking readers beyond the battles in the trenches to the battles with life and death that followed." -- Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW)

"Wounded combines a fresh-and vital-perspective on World War One, supported by an enviable depth of research. But what elevates Emily Mayhew's book above the many others on the war is the compassion, the well of emotional resonance underpinned by scholarship as easily accessible to the layperson as it is to the academic. It brings the reader closer to a visceral experience of the twentieth century's first and arguably most terrible world war and its lingering human cost. It should be on the bookshelf of anyone who wants to understand the Great War." -- Jacqueline Winspear, author of Maisie Dobbs

"A highly readable account... This is an engaging book, written in narrative style because many official documents about the care of the wounded were simply not thought worth keeping, so anecdotal evidence is paramount. They are voices that deserve to be heard." -- Daily Express (UK edition)

"A singular work... Mayhew develops her unconventional history like a novel... Mayhew's exceptional presentation brings to life unforgettable struggles from a long-ago war, when common men and women rose to uncommon heights of bravery and compassion." --Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)

"These voices of battle-resigned, happy, content, afraid, and stoic-give us a history of World War I that we have never quite experienced. VERDICT: A fascinating narrative, taking readers beyond the battles in the trenches to the battles with life and death that followed." -- Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW)

"Beautifully written, this harrowing trip to the trenches of World War I tells one of medicine's most pivotal chapters with the pace and tension of a novel." -- Discover

"This is a beautifully, heartbreakingly told book, extremely well researched, and timely for any time. It wasn't the war that ended all wars, but the view that Mayhew weaves of this war, and all wars, will stay with you." -- Philadelphia Inquirer

"This is a fascinating look at the World War I battlefield through the eyes of casualties and medics. Mayhew, an examiner at the Imperial College London School of Medicine who was unsatisfied with largely fictional portrayals of wounded soldiers and their caregivers, set out to construct a more fact-based historical analysis. It's an atypical narrative history, but it shines." --Army magazine

"Wounded combines a fresh-and vital-perspective on World War One, supported by an enviable depth of research. But what elevates Emily Mayhew's book above the many others on the war is the compassion, the well of emotional resonance underpinned by scholarship as easily accessible to the layperson as it is to the academic. It brings the reader closer to a visceral experience of the twentieth century's first and arguably most terrible world war and its lingering human cost. It should be on the bookshelf of anyone who wants to understand the Great War." -- Jacqueline Winspear, author of Maisie Dobbs

"A highly readable account... This is an engaging book, written in narrative style because many official documents about the care of the wounded were simply not thought worth keeping, so anecdotal evidence is paramount. They are voices that deserve to be heard." -- Daily Express (UK edition)

"Wounded is overall an excellent book which belongs on the shelf of every historian of medicine, of World War I, and of Britain; as well as in every academic, medical, and public library. Even more so, it belongs on the reading list of every politician, for it is difficult to imagine how anyone could ever send young people to war after having read it."--The Watermark

"This is a beautifully, heartbreakingly told book, extremely well researched, and timely for any time. It wasn't the war that ended all wars, but the view that Mayhew weaves of this war, and all wars, will stay with you." -- Philadelphia Inquirer

"Beautifully written, this harrowing trip to the trenches of World War I tells one of medicine's most pivotal chapters with the pace and tension of a novel." -- Discover

"This is a fascinating look at the World War I battlefield through the eyes of casualties and medics. Mayhew, an examiner at the Imperial College London School of Medicine who was unsatisfied with largely fictional portrayals of wounded soldiers and their caregivers, set out to construct a more fact-based historical analysis. It's an atypical narrative history, but it shines." --Army magazine

"A singular work... Mayhew develops her unconventional history like a novel... Mayhew's exceptional presentation brings to life unforgettable struggles from a long-ago war, when common men and women rose to uncommon heights of bravery and compassion." --Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)

"These voices of battle-resigned, happy, content, afraid, and stoic-give us a history of World War I that we have never quite experienced. VERDICT: A fascinating narrative, taking readers beyond the battles in the trenches to the battles with life and death that followed." -- Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW)

"Wounded combines a fresh-and vital-perspective on World War One, supported by an enviable depth of research. But what elevates Emily Mayhew's book above the many others on the war is the compassion, the well of emotional resonance underpinned by scholarship as easily accessible to the layperson as it is to the academic. It brings the reader closer to a visceral experience of the twentieth century's first and arguably most terrible world war and its lingering human cost. It should be on the bookshelf of anyone who wants to understand the Great War." -- Jacqueline Winspear, author of Maisie Dobbs

"A highly readable account... This is an engaging book, written in narrative style because many official documents about the care of the wounded were simply not thought worth keeping, so anecdotal evidence is paramount. They are voices that deserve to be heard." -- Daily Express (UK edition)

"[A]nyone with an interest in the First World War would be well advised to consider this book for a fuller understanding of the experience of soldiers wounded on the Western Front."--rmy History

"Wounded is overall an excellent book which belongs on the shelf of every historian of medicine, of World War I, and of Britain; as well as in every academic, medical, and public library. Even more so, it belongs on the reading list of every politician, for it is difficult to imagine how anyone could ever send young people to war after having read it."--The Watermark

"This is a beautifully, heartbreakingly told book, extremely well researched, and timely for any time. It wasn't the war that ended all wars, but the view that Mayhew weaves of this war, and all wars, will stay with you." -- Philadelphia Inquirer

"Beautifully written, this harrowing trip to the trenches of World War I tells one of medicine's most pivotal chapters with the pace and tension of a novel." -- Discover

"This is a fascinating look at the World War I battlefield through the eyes of casualties and medics. Mayhew, an examiner at the Imperial College London School of Medicine who was unsatisfied with largely fictional portrayals of wounded soldiers and their caregivers, set out to construct a more fact-based historical analysis. It's an atypical narrative history, but it shines." --Army magazine

"A singular work... Mayhew develops her unconventional history like a novel... Mayhew's exceptional presentation brings to life unforgettable struggles from a long-ago war, when common men and women rose to uncommon heights of bravery and compassion." --Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)

"These voices of battle-resigned, happy, content, afraid, and stoic-give us a history of World War I that we have never quite experienced. VERDICT: A fascinating narrative, taking readers beyond the battles in the trenches to the battles with life and death that followed." -- Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW)

"Wounded combines a fresh-and vital-perspective on World War One, supported by an enviable depth of research. But what elevates Emily Mayhew's book above the many others on the war is the compassion, the well of emotional resonance underpinned by scholarship as easily accessible to the layperson as it is to the academic. It brings the reader closer to a visceral experience of the twentieth century's first and arguably most terrible world war and its lingering human cost. It should be on the bookshelf of anyone who wants to understand the Great War." -- Jacqueline Winspear, author of Maisie Dobbs

"A highly readable account... This is an engaging book, written in narrative style because many official documents about the care of the wounded were simply not thought worth keeping, so anecdotal evidence is paramount. They are voices that deserve to be heard." -- Daily Express (UK edition)

The number of soldiers wounded in World War I is, in itself, devastating: over 21 million military wounded, and nearly 10 million killed. On the battlefield, the injuries were shocking, unlike anything those in the medical field had ever witnessed. The bullets hit fast and hard, went deep and took bits of dirty uniform and airborne soil particles in with them. Soldier after soldier came in with the most dreaded kinds of casualty: awful, deep, ragged wounds to their heads, faces and abdomens. And yet the medical personnel faced with these unimaginable injuries adapted with amazing aptitude, thinking and reacting on their feet to save millions of lives.

In Wounded, Emily Mayhew tells the history of the Western Front from a new perspective: the medical network that arose seemingly overnight to help sick and injured soldiers. These men and women pulled injured troops from the hellscape of trench, shell crater, and no man's land, transported them to the rear, and treated them for everything from foot rot to poison gas, venereal disease to traumatic amputation from exploding shells. Drawing on hundreds of letters and diary entries, Mayhew allows readers to peer over the shoulder of the stretcher bearer who jumped into a trench and tried unsuccessfully to get a tightly packed line of soldiers out of the way, only to find that they were all dead. She takes us into dugouts where rescue teams awoke to dirt thrown on their faces by scores of terrified moles, digging frantically to escape the earth-shaking shellfire. Mayhew moves her account along the route followed by wounded men, from stretcher to aid station, from jolting ambulance to crowded operating tent, from railway station to the ship home, exploring actual cases of casualties who recorded their experiences.

Both comprehensive and intimate, this groundbreaking book captures an often neglected aspect of the soldier's world and a transformative moment in military and medical history.