Book contents
- Making Sense of the Great War
- Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare
- Making Sense of the Great War
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Map of the Western Front
- Prologue
- Introduction
- Part I The Environment
- Part II Social Groups
- Part III Crisis and Morale
- Appendix Demographics of Six English Regiments in the BEF
- Bibliography
- Index
Prologue
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 April 2024
- Making Sense of the Great War
- Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare
- Making Sense of the Great War
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Map of the Western Front
- Prologue
- Introduction
- Part I The Environment
- Part II Social Groups
- Part III Crisis and Morale
- Appendix Demographics of Six English Regiments in the BEF
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The prologue begins with the illustrative example of a single soldier whose attempts to rationalise the war in letters to his son reflect the broader themes of the book. This man’s child, Bentley Bridgewater, donated a sequence of letters written to him by his father to the National Army Museum. In these, the reader is confronted by a man looking to maintain his relationship with his distant son whilst also crafting a meaningful narrative around his war experiences. In short, it helps to expose the ways in which men sought to create or imagine agency. The preface moves on to explicate the central importance of narrative (and agency) in human cognition and sensemaking, exploring its role in psychology but also in its broader historical context.
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- Making Sense of the Great WarCrisis, Englishness, and Morale on the Western Front, pp. xxi - xxxPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024