Healing the Nation: Soldiers and the Culture of Caregiving in Britain during the Great War (review)

Focusing on how Britain recovered its wounded during World War I, Jeffrey Reznick demonstrates that the process of physical and psychic healing occurred on a multitude of institutional levels, required a wide array of professional and nonprofessional personnel, and drew upon Victorian views about manhood as well as medical theories about the curative value of rest. Run by volunteer organizations such as the Salvation Army and the YMCA, these huts encouraged "broken-down" soldiers to sip hot (nonalcoholic) drinks, play card games, get lost in conversation, and, most importantly, interact with female volunteers who were responsible for making the huts a homey place.