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History General

A Weary Road

Shell Shock in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1918

by (author) Mark Osborne Humphries

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Sep 2019
Category
General, World War I, History, Canada
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781442644717
    Publish Date
    Oct 2018
    List Price
    $54.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442661417
    Publish Date
    Nov 2018
    List Price
    $45.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781487525187
    Publish Date
    Sep 2019
    List Price
    $37.95

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Description

More than 16,000 Canadian soldiers suffered from shell shock during the Great War of 1914 to 1918. Despite significant interest from historians, we still know relatively little about how it was experienced, diagnosed, treated, and managed in the frontline trenches in the Canadian and British forces.

 

How did soldiers relate to suffering comrades? Did large numbers of shell shock cases affect the outcome of important battles? Was frontline psychiatric treatment as effective as many experts claimed after the war? Were Canadians treated any differently than other Commonwealth soldiers? A Weary Road is the first comprehensive study to address these important questions. Author Mark Osborne Humphries uses research from Canadian, British, and Australian archives, including hundreds of newly available hospital records and patient medical files, to provide a history of war trauma as it was experienced, treated, and managed by ordinary soldiers.

About the author

Mark Humphries is an assistant professor of history at Memorial University of Newfoundland where he teaches war and society and military history. His books include The Last Plague: Spanish Influenza and the Politics of Public Health (forthcoming) and The Selected Papers of Sir Arthur Currie (2008). His article “War’s Long Shadow: Masculinity, Medicine, and the Gendered Politics of Trauma, 1914–1939” won the 2010 Canadian Historical Review Prize.

John Maker received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Ottawa in 2010. He currently teaches for the Royal Military College and is a professional researcher in Ottawa, Ontario.

Wilhelm J. Kiesselbach (translator) was born in Hamburg, Germany, where he completed a B.A. in English and journalism. After emigrating to the United States he was immediately drafted into the U.S. Army and spent seven years with Seventh Army Headquarters in Germany as translator and interpreter. For his service in Vietnam, he was decorated with the Army Commendation Medal and the Bronze Star.

Mark Osborne Humphries' profile page

Awards

  • Winner, CHOICE Outstanding Academic Titles of 2019 awarded by the American Library Association

Editorial Reviews

"With A Weary Road, Humphries deftly tackles the immensely complicated topic of shell shock: how it was understood and diagnosed, the vivisions within the medical community, how treatment evlved over the course of the war, and how medical and military interests could collide."

Literary Review of Canada, Vol 27, no. 2

Other titles by

The Frontier of Patriotism

Alberta and the First World War

edited by Adriana A. Davies & Jeff Keshen
contributions by David Borys, Juliette Champagne, Brett Clifton, Catherine C. Cole, Rory Cory, Duff Crerar, Michael Dawe, L. James Dempsey, Antonella Fanella, Alvin Finkel, Ryan Flavelle, David Gallant, Stephen Greenhalgh, Jarett Henderson, Mark Osborne Humphries, Chris Hyland, Kathryn Ivany, Allan Kerr, Norman Knowles, J. Whitney Lackenbauer, Robert Lampard, Michale Lang, Kassandra Luciuk, Rod McLeod, John Matthews, Peter McKenzie-Brown, Sean Moir, Patricia Myers, Allan Rowe, Robert Rutherdale, Amy Shaw, Donald J. Smith, Paul Stortz, Doug Styles, Ken Tingley, Aritha Van Herk, Donald G. Wetherell & Anthony Worman

Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919

Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War

by (author) G.W.L. Nicholson
introduction by Mark Osborne Humphries

Canadian Battlefields of the First World War

A Visitor's Guide

by (author) Terry Copp, Nick Lachance, Caitlin McWilliams & Matt Symes
edited by Mark Humphries & Mark Osborne Humphries

Germany’s Western Front: 1914

Translations from the German Official History of the Great War, Part 1

edited by Mark Humphries, John Maker & Mark Osborne Humphries

War's Lingering Touch

Shell Shocked Veterans of Canada's Great War, 1914-1918

by (author) Mark Osborne Humphries

The Last Plague

Spanish Influenza and the Politics of Public Health in Canada

by (author) Mark Osborne Humphries

Germany’s Western Front: 1915

Translations from the German Official History of the Great War

edited by Mark Humphries, John Maker & Mark Osborne Humphries

The Selected Papers of Sir Arthur Currie

Diaries, Letters, and Report to the Ministry, 1917-1933

edited by Mark Humphries & Mark Osborne Humphries