Soldiers Don't Go Mad: A Story of Brotherhood, Poetry and Mental Illness During the First World War

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A personal history of the friendship between the great war poets, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, 'Soldiers Don't Go Mad' tells the story of psychiatry, the traumatic effects of war, and the healing properties of poetry.

Second Lieutenant Wilfred Owen was twenty-four years old when he was admitted to the newly established Craiglockhart War Hospital for treatment of shell shock. A nascent poet, trying to make sense of the terror he had witnessed, he read a collection of poems from a fellow officer, Siegfried Sassoon, and was impressed by his portrayal of the soldiers plight. One month later, Sassoon himself arrived at Craiglockhart, having refused to return to the front after being wounded during battle.Over their months at Craiglockhart, each encouraged the other in their work, their personal reckonings with the morality of war, and their treatment. Therapy provided Owen, Sassoon, and their wardmates with insights that allowed them to express themselves better, and for the 28 months that Craiglockhart was in operation, it notably incubated the eras most significant developments in both psychiatry and poetry.Soldiers Dont Go Mad tells for the first time the story of the soldiers and doctors who struggled with the effects of industrial warfare on the psyche. As he investigates the roots of what we now know as PTSD, Glass brings historical bearing to how we must consider wars ravaging effects on mental health, and the ways in which creative work helps us come to terms with even the darkest of times.

Reviews

'A marvellous and very moving book' - Allan Massie, The Scotsman

'A lucid, comprehensive and highly engaging account of a watershed in British medical and literary history' Sebastian Faulks, author of Birdsong

Author Bio

Charles Glass is an award-winning journalist and author of Americans in Paris, Tribes with Flags, and The Northern Front: An Iraq War Diary, among other books. He divides his time among the south of France, Tuscany, London, and the Middle East.