Introduction 1. ‘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 War 3. ‘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 War 5. Claiming trauma: Women in the Vietnam War6. Crying silently: doctors and medics in the Vietnam War 7. Fatal InjuryConclusion BibliographyIndex

Working in a world of hurt fills a significant gap in the studies of the psychological trauma wrought by war by focusing not on soldiers, but on the men and women who fought to save them in casualty clearing stations, hospitals and prison camps. Through a rich analysis of both published and unpublished personal accounts by doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and other medical personnel from the major wars of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Acton and Potter uncover a spectrum of responses to what was often unimaginable suffering, which ranged from breakdown to resilience, from exhausted resignation to firmer belief in humanity despite the brutalities of armed conflict. Organised chronologically, the book examines a broad range of writings and voices that have until now received little attention, including volunteer ambulance drivers in the First World War, POW doctors in the Second World War and medics in the Vietnam War. With a chapter dedicated to the recent narratives of medical personnel in Iraq, the study is highly topical and situates the life-writing from these contemporary wars within a larger tradition of war literature. Wide-ranging in scope and interdisciplinary in method, Working in a world of hurt puts the letters, diaries and memoirs that chronicle physical and emotional suffering centre stage, many for the first time. These testaments to the torment of combatants also – crucially – bear witness to the harrowing struggles of wartime healers. Scholarly yet accessible, it will appeal to lecturers and students as well as the general reader.

‘Acton and Potter have embarked upon a refreshing interdisciplinary approach to reading wartime narratives, by focusing on those whose history ‘lies concealed’, those who served as medical personnel in warzones (p. 2). It chronicles the writings and memories of medics, largely British and American, including nurses, field medics, ambulance drivers, doctors and surgeons. The chapter structure chronologically traces their experiences from the First World War, through the Second World War, the Vietnam War, and concludes with a nod to the memoirs of Iraq War veterans. The authors have adeptly communicated the ways in which medical narratives of ‘trauma’ and ‘resilience’ are distinct from those of combatants and directly related to the medical duties they performed. Despite identifying some universal characteristics in medics’ narratives, the authors have also firmly grounded their analysis in specific historical, cultural and medical contexts…Overall, the prose is fluid, sophisticated and confident throughout.’Nicole Cassie, University of Glasgow, War in History, Vol. 24, No. 3'[…] an excellent and necessary intervention into two important aspects of cultural history: those of medicine and warfare. In synthesizing an impressive range of primary sources with such confidence and coherence, Acton and Potter have written a book that must form essential reading for any scholar working on the histories of war, medicine, or trauma.'First World War Studies