"...an interesting contribution both to medical history and to the continuing debate about...WWI."--T.L. Crosby, Choice

"Those willing to pay attention, however, will be rewarded by this first full-length treatment of Britian's 'shell shock' experience."--Maureen T. Moore, Journal of Military History

“Peter Leese’s book is intrinsically interesting. It fills a glaring gap in our historical knowledge.” —Mark Micale, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

“Shell shock was born as a condition in 1915 but has grown to become a metaphor for the horrors of total war. Leese tells the story of that evolution with learning, sympathy and a shrewd sense of the way medical history can illuminate our understanding of the violent twentieth-century as a whole.” —Professor Jay Winter, Department of History, Yale University

“One of the crucial and most moving episodes of twentieth century British history has now found its worthy historian. Peter Leese writes the story of shellshock with expertise and flair, with critical detachment and compassion. Avoiding judgmentalism, he brings out the full enormity of this tragic story.” —Professor Roy Porter, Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London