Focuses on doctors and nurses in wartime casualty clearing stations, hospitals and prison camps

Working in a world of hurt fills a significant gap in the studies of the psychological trauma wrought by war. It focuses not on soldiers, but on the men and women who fought to save them in casualty clearing stations, hospitals and prison camps. The writings by doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and other medical personnel reveal the spectrum of their responses that range from breakdown to resilience. Through a rich analysis of both published and unpublished personal from the First World War in the early twentieth century to Iraq in the early twenty-first, Acton and Potter put centre stage the letters, diaries, memoirs and weblogs that have chronicled physical and emotional suffering, many for the first time. Wide-ranging in scope, interdisciplinary in method, and written in a scholarly yet accessible style, Working in a world of hurt is essential reading for lecturers and students as well as the general reader.

Introduction1. ‘These frightful sights would work havoc with one’s brain’: First World War writings by medical personnel2. 'Over There': American confidence and the narrative of resilience in the Great War3. ‘You damn well just got on with your job’: medical personnel and the invasion of Europe in the Second World War4. 'It was a tough life and I did all I could to lighten the men’s burden': British P.O.W. medics' memoirs of the Second World War5. Claiming trauma: Women in the Vietnam War6. Crying silently: doctors and medics in the Vietnam War7. Fatal InjuryConclusionBibliographyIndex

Focuses on doctors and nurses in wartime casualty clearing stations, hospitals and prison camps