This volume presents the unwritten history of a forgotten underclass: the men who went mad at the horrors of World War I. Barham reconstructs the life histories of some of the 12,000 "soldier lunatics" admitted into British asylums by the end of the World War I. Some of the certified 'lunatics,' such as Siegfried Sassoon, escaped incarceration. Others were less lucky and remained in the asylum system until their deaths, some as recently as the 1980s. These were the most extreme "hopeless" cases of battlefront trauma, whose ...
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This volume presents the unwritten history of a forgotten underclass: the men who went mad at the horrors of World War I. Barham reconstructs the life histories of some of the 12,000 "soldier lunatics" admitted into British asylums by the end of the World War I. Some of the certified 'lunatics,' such as Siegfried Sassoon, escaped incarceration. Others were less lucky and remained in the asylum system until their deaths, some as recently as the 1980s. These were the most extreme "hopeless" cases of battlefront trauma, whose condition went beyond the "milder" shell shock. Barham uncovers a lamentable story of their abandonment by the State, their struggle to secure pensions and compensation and how it took a campaign of public pressure to bring them some redress. The book chronicles the men's experiences at the battlefront that led to their derangement and the progress and lives of inmates after life in the asylums. For instance, George Henderson who fought a lifelong battle with the Ministry of Pensions after his complete mental breakdown at Gallipoli in 1915, until his death in 1967; Leonard "the idiot" and Ernest "the moral imbecile", who attempted to lead normal lives in society despite their demeaning ascriptions. Barham presents an indictment of society's unwillingness to take responsibility for the damaged minds of its World War I soldiers and gives a voice to a population previously cast into oblivion.
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Good-Bumped and creased book with tears to the extremities, but not affecting the text block, may have remainder mark or previous owner's name-GOOD PAPERBACK Standard-sized.
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Fine in fine jacket. First printing. A fine, fersh copy in equally fine dust jacket. Hardcover. 451 pp. with bibliography, index, illustrations. A unique study of a largely understudied aspect of World War I, the treatment of psychiatric casualties of the British soldier, thousands of whom were put in lunatic asylums after the war, thought to be "insane through fighting for thier country". The author draws on records from the front lines, case histories, personal letters, and war pension files and recounts poignant, sometimes ribald life stories of this neglected group. Public feeling towards those afflicted resulted in the emergence of the "People's Lunatic", producing major concessions from authorities; he goes on to examine the fate of the People's Lunatic in the class antagonisms between the wars and the uphill struggles that ex-servicement faced trying to secure jusitce from the iron behemoth that w sthe Ministry of Pensions.
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PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
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Seller's Description:
PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
