Doctors at War
Life and Death in a Field Hospital
by Mark de de Rond
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Pub Date Mar 07 2017 | Archive Date Mar 07 2017
Cornell University Press | ILR Press
Description
Doctors at War is a candid account of a trauma surgical team based, for a tour of duty, at a field hospital in Helmand, Afghanistan. Mark de Rond tells of the highs and lows of surgical life in hard-hitting detail, bringing to life a morally ambiguous world in which good people face impossible choices and in which routines designed to normalize experience have the unintended effect of highlighting war's absurdity. With stories that are at once comical and tragic, de Rond captures the surreal experience of being a doctor at war. He lifts the cover on a world rarely ever seen, let alone written about, and provides a poignant counterpoint to the archetypical, adrenaline-packed, macho tale of what it is like to go to war.Here the crude and visceral coexist with the tender and affectionate. The author tells of well-meaning soldiers at hospital reception, there to deliver a pair of legs in the belief that these can be reattached to their comrade, now in mid-surgery; of midsummer Christmas parties and pancake breakfasts and late-night sauna sessions; of interpersonal rivalries and banter; of caring too little or too much; of tenderness and compassion fatigue; of hell and redemption; of heroism and of playing God. While many good firsthand accounts of war by frontline soldiers exist, this is one of the first books ever to bring to life the experience of the surgical teams tasked with mending what war destroys.
Advance Praise
"Doctors at War is a tale of considerable power. It's an impressionistic account of a British field hospital told in an emotive voice; it is hardly dispassionate, but that is its strength. Mark de Rond depicts the workaday life of army surgeons on field deployment brilliantly and without glamor. He brings the Afghanistan war into sharp focus by highlighting the human costs of the conflict."—John Van Maanen, Erwin H. Schell Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management, author of Tales of the Field
"Doctors at War is an amazing, wonderful book. Near the end of it, Mark de Rond writes: 'If we social scientists took stock of the problems we have solved to date, and their consequences for humanity, would we have reason to be proud?' Social scientists often have little reason to be proud, but we should all be very proud of Doctors at War. This is a vivid, extraordinary ethnography that addresses central questions of what it means to be human in situations that allow for very little transcendent meaning. This book evokes compassion even while it conveys horrifying scenes. It shows how organizing works in these types of situations, and how pancakes may be a brilliant psychiatric intervention. I strongly recommend that any social scientists who care about meaningful contributions of their work read and learn from this book."—Jean M. Bartunek, Robert A. and Evelyn J. Ferris Chair and Professor of Management and Organization, Boston College
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781501705489 |
| PRICE | $21.95 (USD) |
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General Fiction (Adult), Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction
