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    An intimate history of killing: face-to-face killing in Twentieth Century warfare

    Bourke, Joanna (2000) An intimate history of killing: face-to-face killing in Twentieth Century warfare. London, UK: Granta Books. ISBN 9781862073210.

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    Abstract

    Book synopsis: It is almost universally accepted among writers on warfare that battle is a terrible experience, and that men who fight are at the very least sobered, and often deeply traumatized, by the horrors of combat. Bourke uses the letters, diaries, memoirs and reports of veterans from three conflicts - the First World War, the Second World War and the Vietnam War - to establish a picture of the man-at-arms. She suggests that the structure of war encourages pleasure in killing, and that perfectly ordinary, gentle human beings can become enthusiastic killers without becoming 'brutalized'. Bourke forces the reader to face some disconcerting truths about societies that can so easliy organize themselves for war.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Book
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Historical Studies
    Research Centres and Institutes: Gender and Sexuality, Birkbeck (BiGS), Social Research, Birkbeck Institute for (BISR)
    Depositing User: Sarah Hall
    Date Deposited: 17 Nov 2016 16:43
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 17:28
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/16761

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