War dead : Western societies and the casualties of war / Luc Capdevila and Daniele Voldman ; translated by Richard Veasey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Capdevila, Luc, author.

Voldman, Danièle, author.

Contributor:

Veasey, Richard, translator.

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

War casualties--History.

War casualties.

War casualties--Public opinion.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xix, 200 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2006.

Language Note:

In English and French.

Summary:

Wars in the industrial age kill large numbers of people. What do societies involved in these conflicts do with all the corpses? How do they show them respect? How do they dispose of them? What is their attitude to the bodies of the enemies?In the 19th century, those who died on the battlefield were pushed into mass graves, their identities unknown. Today, their remains are held in such high esteem that they are tracked down in order that last respects might be paid. As a historical account of the way in which war and death intersect, this book describes the complex attitude societies have towards death. Lured by the concept of eternal youth, tempted to deny death as well as physical decay, faced with longer life expectancy, we retain the hope of going off to war without loss of life. But does not our own expectation of zero death" imply "more deaths" for the other side?"

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

1 War dead

2 Identifying the dead to mourn them properly?

3 Armies and states faced with their dead

4 What should be done with enemy corpses?

5 Ways of bidding farewell

6 Ritualised mourning in acts of commemoration

Epilogue: The presence of dead bodies

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781474465625

1474465625