Nurse Writers of the Great War

Nurse Writers of the Great War
Author: Christine Hallett
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2016-02-15
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1784996327

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. The First World War was the first ‘total war’. Its industrial weaponry damaged millions of men and drove whole armies underground into dangerously unhealthy trenches. Many were killed. Many more suffered terrible, life-threatening injuries: wound infections such as gas gangrene and tetanus, exposure to extremes of temperature, emotional trauma and systemic disease. In an effort to alleviate this suffering, tens of thousands of women volunteered to serve as nurses. Of these, some were experienced professionals, while others had undergone only minimal training. But regardless of their preparation, they would all gain a unique understanding of the conditions of industrial warfare. Until recently their contributions, both to the saving of lives and to our understanding of warfare, have remained largely hidden from view. By combining biographical research with textual analysis, Nurse writers of the great war opens a window onto their insights into the nature of nursing and the impact of warfare.

Nurse Writers of the Great War

Nurse Writers of the Great War
Author: Christine E. Hallett
Publisher: Nursing History and Humanities
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2016
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781784992521

Examines the experiences of First World War nurses through their own writings, offering fresh insights into the reality of industrial warfare.

The Backwash of War

The Backwash of War
Author: Ellen Newbold La Motte
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 214
Release: 1916
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

This war has been described as "Months of boredom, punctuated by moments of intense fright." The writer of these sketches has experienced many "months of boredom," in a French military field hospital, situated ten kilometres behind the lines, in Belgium. During these months, the lines have not moved, either forward or backward, but have remained dead-locked, in one position. Undoubtedly, up and down the long-reaching kilometres of "Front" there has been action, and "moments of intense fright" have produced glorious deeds of valour, courage, devotion, and nobility. But when there is little or no action, there is a stagnant place, and in a stagnant place there is much ugliness. Much ugliness is churned up in the wake of mighty, moving forces. We are witnessing a phase in the evolution of humanity, a phase called War-and the slow, onward progress stirs up the slime in the shallows, and this is the Backwash of War. It is very ugly. There are many little lives foaming up in the backwash. They are loosened by the sweeping current, and float to the surface, detached from their environment, and one glimpses them, weak, hideous, repellent. After the war, they will consolidate again into the condition called Peace. After this war, there will be many other wars, and in the intervals there will be peace. So it will alternate for many generations. By examining the things cast up in the backwash, we can gauge the progress of humanity. When clean little lives, when clean little souls boil up in the backwash, they will consolidate, after the final war, into a peace that shall endure. But not till then.

The Backwash of War

The Backwash of War
Author: Ellen N. La Motte
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2019-02-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1421426714

Not only did La Motte boldly breach decorum in writing The Backwash of War, but she forcefully challenged societal norms in other equally remarkable ways, as a debutante turned Johns Hopkins–trained nurse, pathbreaking public health advocate and administrator, suffragette, journalist, writer, lesbian, and self-proclaimed anarchist.

Women in the War Zone

Women in the War Zone
Author: Anne Powell
Publisher: The History Press
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2001-08-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 0752469517

In our collective memory, the First World War is dominated by men. The sailors, soldiers, airmen and politicians about whom histories are written were male, and the first half of the twentieth century was still a time when a woman's place was thought to be in the home. It was not until the Second World War that women would start to play a major role both in the armed forces and in the factories and the fields. Yet there were some women who were able to contribute to the war effort between 1914 and 1918, mostly as doctors and nurses. In Women in the War Zone, Anne Powell has selected extracts from first-hand accounts of the experiences of those female medical personnel who served abroad during the First World War. Covering both the Western and the Eastern Fronts, from Petrograd to Basra and from Antwerp to the Dardanelles, they include nursing casualties from the Battle of Ypres, a young doctor put in charge of a remote hospital in Serbia and a nurse who survived a torpedo attack, albeit with serious injuries. Filled with stories of bravery and kindliness, it is a book that honours the often unsung contribution made by the female doctors and nurses who helped to alleviate some of the suffering of the First World War.

Nurses at the Front

Nurses at the Front
Author: Mary Borden
Publisher:
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781555534851

Publishes selections from the memoirs of Ellen N. La Motte & Mary Borden, two of the best known American nurses who wrote about their experiences working in the same field hospital on the Western Front during World War I. Simultaneous hardcover.

Civil War Nurse Narratives, 1863-1870

Civil War Nurse Narratives, 1863-1870
Author: Daneen Wardrop
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2015-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 1609383672

Louisa May Alcott's hospital sketches: a readership -- Georgeanna Woolsey's three weeks at Gettysburg: connecting links -- Julia Dunlap's notes of hospital life: women's rights, benevolence, and class -- Elvira Powers' hospital pencillings: travel, dissent, and cultural ties -- Anna Morris Holstein's three years in field hospitals of the Army of the Potomac: the dead-line -- Sophronia Bucklin's in hospital and camp: rank and file nursing -- Julia Wheelock's the boys in white: narrative construction

The War Nurse

The War Nurse
Author: Tracey Enerson Wood
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Total Pages: 367
Release: 2021-07-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1492698172

"Any readers who enjoyed the mix of romance, intrigue, and medical accuracy of Call the Midwife will love The War Nurse."—New York Journal of Books "[An] impeccably researched, well-drawn, based-on-a-true-story tale, written by a former RN...The War Nurse shines an important light on a woman whose story was, until now, lost to time."—Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names Based on a true story, The War Nurse is a sweeping historical novel by USA Today bestselling author Tracey Enerson Wood that takes readers on an unforgettable journey through WWI France. She asked dozens of young women to lay their lives on the line during the Great War. Can she protect them? Superintendent of Nurses Julia Stimson must recruit sixty-four nurses to relieve the battle-worn British, months before American troops are ready to be deployed. She knows that the young nurses serving near the front lines will face a challenging situation, but nothing could have prepared her for the chaos that awaits when they arrive at British Base Hospital 12 in Rouen, France. The primitive conditions, a convoluted, ineffective system, and horrific battle wounds are enough to discourage the most hardened nurses, and Julia can do nothing but lead by example—even as the military doctors undermine her authority and make her question her very place in the hospital tent. When trainloads of soldiers stricken by a mysterious respiratory illness arrive one after the other, overwhelming the hospital's limited resources, and threatening the health of her staff, Julia faces an unthinkable choice—to step outside the bounds of her profession and risk the career she has fought so hard for, or to watch the people she cares for most die in her arms. Fans of Martha Hall Kelly's Lost Roses and Marie Benedict's Lady Clementine will devour this mesmerizing celebration of some of the most overlooked heroes in history: the fierce, determined, and brave nurses who treated soldiers in World War I. Praise for The War Nurse: "Through careful research, this book shows the incredible bravery and compassion of women who find themselves in extraordinary situations." —Julia Kelly, international bestselling author of The Last Garden in England and The Light Over London "A rich, gripping history of one woman's lifelong battle against systemic prejudice." —Stewart O'Nan, award-winning author of The Good Wife "Once again, Tracey Enerson Wood, with her impeccable research and evocative prose, kept me glued to the page. Wood has a talent for bringing strong, yet lesser-known women from history, to life." —Linda Rosen, author of The Disharmony of Silence "A riveting and surprisingly timely story of courage, sacrifice, and friendship forged at the front lines." —Kelly Mustian, author of The Girls in the Stilt House "If you, like me, are a voyeur of historical drama that unfolds as if the kitchen window flew open and the characters were caught in action, then The War Nurse is for you." —Diane Dewey, author of Fixing the Fates "Fans of Patricia Harman will love Wood's treatment of medical expertise in a historical setting." —Booklist

The Forbidden Zone

The Forbidden Zone
Author: Mary Borden
Publisher: Hesperus Press
Total Pages: 116
Release: 2023-09-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1843919966

Mary Borden worked for four years in an evacuation hospital unit following the front lines up and down the European theater of the First World War. This beautifully written book, to be read alongside the likes of Sassoon, Graves, and Remarque, is a collection of her memories and impressions of that experience. Describing the men as they march into battle, engaging imaginatively with the stories of individual soldiers, and recounting procedures at the field hospital, the author offers a perspective on the war that is both powerful and intimate.

The Great War and Scottish Nurses’ Diaries

The Great War and Scottish Nurses’ Diaries
Author: Costel Coroban
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2019-03-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1527531759

This book analyses the representations of the different instances of war in the letters and diaries of the nurses and doctors of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals who worked in Romania during the Great War. These nurses detailed their experiences into journals through literary diegesis that included minute observations on their work, surroundings, and different developments of the front, as well as their own interpretations of, and impressions on, their work and the war’s destructive character. Generally, the approaches to the Great War by women who witnessed and lived it have either been gender-oriented or, simply, seen as petit histoire(s). This research represents a complementary addition to the existing literature, through its focus on the experience of the women on the fighting front, looking at it from the double perspective of autobiographical writing and war testimony.