Postcards from the Western Front : pilgrims, veterans, and tourists after the Great War / Mark Connelly.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Connelly, Mark, author.

Contributor:

Ellis D. Williams, College 1865, Endowment Fund.

Series:

Human dimensions in foreign policy, military studies, and security studies ; 17.

Human dimensions in foreign policy, military studies, and security studies ; 17

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1914-1918--Battlefields--Social aspects--Great Britain.

World War, 1914-1918.

World War, 1914-1918--Battlefields--France.

World War, 1914-1918--Battlefields--Belgium.

World War, 1914-1918--Veterans--Travel.

Tourism--France--History--20th century.

Tourism.

Tourism--Belgium--History--20th century.

Memorialization--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Memorialization.

War and society--Great Britain--History--20th century.

War and society.

Pilgrims and pilgrimages--France--History--20th century.

Pilgrims and pilgrimages.

Pilgrims and pilgrimages--Belgium--History--20th century.

Battlefields.

Social aspects.

Travel.

Veterans.

Belgium.

France.

Great Britain.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xvii, 454 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2022]

Summary:

"Visitors to the battlefields of France and Belgium expressed pain and anguish, pride and nostalgia, and wonder and surprise at what they saw. Postcards from the Western Front chronicles the many ways in which these sites were perceived and commemorated by British people, both during the First World War and in the twenty years following the Armistice. Mark Connelly's definitive and engaging study of the former Western Front examines how different and distinctive sub-communities--regional, ethnic and religious, civilian and armed forces--influenced the depth and strength of the visiting public's relationship with the battlefields, all the while comparing and contrasting this relationship with the viewpoint of the French and Belgian inhabitants of the devastated regions. Drawing from a vast archival history, a number of interlocking themes reveal themselves, including the lingering presence of the battlefields in the British domestic imagination, the often fraught experience of visiting the battlefields, memorials and cemeteries functioning as part of a historical-testimony to wartime realities, and the interactions between visitors and the people living in these former fighting zones. Thought focused on French and Belgian sites, Connelly nevertheless provides insight into other major battlefields fought over by troops from the British Empire. Extensively illustrated with black and white photographs depicting battlefield tourism, Postcards from the Western Front offers a groundbreaking perspective on landscapes that rarely left anyone--whether tourist, inhabitant, veteran, or pilgrim--unmoved."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Fragments from France and Belgium: Visiting the Battlefields, 1914

18

2. Postcards from the Hotel

3. Postcards from the Road

4. Postcard Scenes: Devastation

5. Postcards from Veterans

6. Postcards from Pilgrims

7. Postcards from Tourists

8. Postcards from Ypres (and Its Salient)

9. Postcards from Arras

10. Postcards from Thiepval

11. Postcards from Behind the Lines: Armentieres, Bailleul, Bethune, Poperinghe ... and Around.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Ellis D. Williams, College 1865, Endowment Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Connelly, Mark. Postcards from the Western Front.

ISBN:

0228011906

9780228011903

0228011892

9780228011897

OCLC:

1277276407