Exploring how understandings of masculinity were constructed by British First World war servicemen through examination of their personal narratives, including letters home from the front and wartime diaries. This book presents a nuanced investigation of masculine identity in Britain during and after the First World War.

JESSICA MEYER holds degrees from Yale University and the University of Cambridge, UK. She has published articles on subjects including shell-shock, the wives of disabled ex-servicemen and popular literature and the First World War. She is currently researching the history of the wedding in Britain and America.

List of Illustrations Abbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction Writing Home: Men's Letters From the Front Wartime Diaries Remembering the Heroic Dead: Letters of Condolence 'Fit Only for Light Work': Disabled Ex-servicemen and the Struggle for Post-war Masculinity 'The Very Basic Test of Manhood': War Memoirs and the Remembering of Martial Masculinities Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index