Intimate History of Killing: Face-to-face Killing in Twentieth-century Warfare Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Intimate History of Killing: Face-to-face Killing in Twentieth-century Warfare Book

"The characteristic act of men at war is not dying, it is killing". With that unsettling--yet incontrovertible--assertion, Joanna Bourke opens her investigation of how servicemen deal with the most willfully ignored of wartime activities. Drawing on private letters and diaries of men (and a few women) from the First and Second World Wars and Vietnam, she shows not only how military men talk of their fears and anxieties--familiar enough territory--but also how they talk of joy and pleasure: the physical, sexual excitement of killing other men. In its own right, the material--lucidly and wittily handled--is fascinating enough. But across Britain, the U.S., and Australia, across three distinct wars, the same stories come through loud and clear: the joy of a man-to-man combat, which, ironically, became less and less common through the century. As Bourke shows, these powerful stories were influenced by the combat tales in magazines, novels, and films that enthralled boys across generations. In the end, despite the best efforts of the military, the experience of war cannot be prepared for. Some may have reservations about Bourke's conclusions, but the huge mass of detail she brings to light in An Intimate History of Killing forces us at the very least to reconsider those easy clichés about the brutalizing, traumatizing effects of war. --Alan Stewart, Amazon.co.ukRead More

from£24.28 | RRP: £22.50
* Excludes Voucher Code Discount Also available Used from £13.14
  • Product Description

    "The characteristic act of men at war is killing, not dying, Joanna Bourke argues. For politicians, military strategists and many historians, war may be about the conquest of territory or the struggle to recover a sense of national honor, but for the man on active service warfare is a sanctioned bloodletting."--BOOK JACKET. "In An Intimate History of Killing Bourke presents us with a graphic, unromanticized and chilling look at men at war, and revises many long-held beliefs about the nature of violence and the behavior of soldiers in the three great wars of this century. The two world wars and the Vietnam War bloodied the hands and consciences of thousands of British, American and Australian men and women. In this book, the combatants - men and women, soldiers, nurses and priests - share their fantasies and experiences of "intimate" killing and, in the process, reveal themselves as individuals transformed by a range of conflicting emotions: fear and ecstasy, rage and exhilaration, hatred and empathy."--BOOK JACKET. "What kind of men make the best killers? How do soldiers cope with the horrors they witness and the atrocities they are ordered to commit? How do soldiers readjust to "normal" civilian life? These and many other disturbing questions are answered in a series of sharply drawn chapters."--BOOK JACKET.

  • 0465007376
  • 9780465007370
  • Jo Ann Bourke
  • 1 October 1999
  • Basic Books
  • Hardcover (Book)
  • 544
  • New Ed
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. If you click through any of the links below and make a purchase we may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you). Click here to learn more.

Would you like your name to appear with the review?

We will post your book review within a day or so as long as it meets our guidelines and terms and conditions. All reviews submitted become the licensed property of www.find-book.co.uk as written in our terms and conditions. None of your personal details will be passed on to any other third party.

All form fields are required.