Shell Shock: The Psychological Impact of War

An authoritative and fascinating account of masculinity, madness and the ethics of war. Shell Shock is the story of the mind at war. For centuries we have acknowledged the terrible physical effects of warfare, but it is only in the twentieth century, with the significant changes in the nature of war and our attitude towards it, that we have begun to realize the profound psychological effects of sending individuals to the front line. This book charts society’s attempts to distinguish between madness and cowardice, in conflicts from the First World War to Bosnia. In a shifting moral landscape it details the revolution in military attitudes to the fragility of men.