Reconstructing the Body: Classicism, Modernism, and the First World War - Hardcover

Carden-Coyne, Ana

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199546460 ISBN 13: 9780199546466

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2009

Synopsis

The First World War mangled faces, blew away limbs, and ruined nerves. Ten million dead, twenty million severe casualties, and eight million people with permanent disabilities--modern war inflicted pain and suffering with unsparing, mechanical efficiency. However, such horror was not the entire story. People also rebuilt their lives, their communities, and their bodies. From the ashes of war rose beauty, eroticism, and the promise of utopia.

Ana Carden-Coyne investigates the cultures of resilience and the institutions of reconstruction in Britain, Australia, and the United States. Immersed in efforts to heal the consequences of violence and triumph over adversity, reconstruction inspired politicians, professionals, and individuals to transform themselves and their societies.

Bodies were not to remain locked away as tortured memories. Instead, they became the subjects of outspoken debate, the objects of rehabilitation, and commodities of desire in global industries. Governments, physicians, beauty and body therapists, monument designers and visual artists looked to classicism and modernism as the tools for rebuilding civilization and its citizens. What better response to loss of life, limb, and mind than a body reconstructed?

About this title

About the Author

Ana Carden-Coyne is Co-Director for the Centre for the Cultural History of War at the University of Manchester.

Review

"A challenging and important addition...appears at an important time, and, for this reason especially...deserves careful reading."--American Historical Review

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0199546460
• ISBN 13: 9780199546466
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 360