Family Life, Trauma and Loss in the Twentieth Century

Description

This book uses personal memoir to examine links between private trauma and the socio-cultural approach to death and memory developed within Death Studies. The authors, two key Death Studies scholars, tell the stories that constitute their family lives. Each bears witness to the experiences of men who were either killed or traumatised during World War One and World War Two and shows the ongoing implications of these events for those left behind. The book illustrates how the rich oral history and material culture legacy bequeathed by these wars raises issues for everyone alive today. Belonging to a generation who grew up in the shadow of war, Komaromy and Hockey ask how we can best convey unimaginable events to later generations, and what practical, moral and ethical demands this brings. Family Life, Trauma and Loss in the Twentieth Century will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines including Death Studies, Military History, Research Methods, Family History, the Sociology of the Family and Life Writing. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxviii Recovery, Retrieval and Healing (Carol Komaromy, Jenny Hockey)....Pages 1-19 Missing Persons (Carol Komaromy, Jenny Hockey)....Pages 21-46 Changing Perspectives on Death, Dying and Loss (Carol Komaromy, Jenny Hockey)....Pages 47-60 World War One and its Transformations (Carol Komaromy, Jenny Hockey)....Pages 61-104 Family Life Between the Wars: 1918–1931 (Carol Komaromy, Jenny Hockey)....Pages 105-122 War in Prospect, 1930–1939 (Carol Komaromy, Jenny Hockey)....Pages 123-145 At Home and Abroad (Carol Komaromy, Jenny Hockey)....Pages 147-177 Experiencing the Horror of World War Two (Carol Komaromy, Jenny Hockey)....Pages 179-209 Growing Up Post-War: All Over Now? (Carol Komaromy, Jenny Hockey)....Pages 211-244 Endings and Beginnings (Carol Komaromy, Jenny Hockey)....Pages 245-262 Back Matter ....Pages 263-266