An Intimate History Of Killing

Face-To-Face Killing In Twentieth-Century Warfare

It is almost universally accepted among writers on warfare that battle is a terrible experience, and that men who fight are at the very least sobered, and often deeply traumatised, by the horrors of combat. Bourke uses the letters, diaries, memoirs and reports of veterans from three conflicts - the First and Second World Wars and the Vietnam War - to establish a radically different picture of the man-at-arms.

This book suggests the structure of war encourages pleasure in killing, and that perfectly ordinary, gentle human beings can become enthusiastic killers without becoming "brutalised". It reveals some disconcerting truths about a society that can so easily organise itself for war.