The Backwash of War

Biographies & Memoirs

La Motte, Ellen N.

Historical

Wentworth Press

The Backwash of War: The Human Wreckage of the Battlefield as Witnessed by an American Hospital Nurse

Literature & Fiction

Literary

Hailer

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Legare Street Press

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Leaders & Notable People

BiblioLife

History

Military

Banned in multiple countries for its frank depiction of the horrors of war, Ellen N. La Motte's The Backwash of War is one of the most stunning antiwar books ever published.
"We are witnessing a phase in the evolution of humanity, a phase called War―and the slow, onward progress stirs up the slime in the shallows, and this is the Backwash of War. It is very ugly."―Ellen N. La Motte
In September 1916, as World War I advanced into a third deadly year, an American woman named Ellen N. La Motte published a collection of stories about her experience as a war nurse. Deemed damaging to morale, The Backwash of War was immediately banned in both England and France and later censored in wartime America. At once deeply unsettling and darkly humorous, this compelling book presents a unique view of the destruction wrought by war to the human body and spirit. Long neglected, it is an astounding book by an extraordinary woman and merits a place among major works of WWI literature. 
This volume gathers, for the first time, La Motte's published writing about the First World War. In addition to Backwash, it includes three long-forgotten essays. Annotated for a modern audience, the book features both a comprehensive introduction to La Motte's war-time writing in its historical and literary contexts and the first extended biography of the "lost" author of this "lost classic." Not only did La Motte boldly breach decorum in writing The Backwash of War, but she also forcefully challenged societal norms in other equally remarkable ways, as a debutante turned Johns Hopkins–trained nurse, pathbreaking public health advocate and administrator, suffragette, journalist, writer, lesbian, and self-proclaimed anarchist.

The Backwash of War: An Extraordinary American Nurse in World War I

Community & Culture

Johns Hopkins University Press

When he could stand it no longer, he fired a revolver up through the roof of his mouth, but he made a mess of it. The ball tore out his left eye, and then lodged somewhere under his skull, so they bundled him into an ambulance and carried him, cursing and screaming, to the nearest field hospital. The journey was made in double 4 5 6 7 martialled and shot, truly that seemed a dead 8 9 minded Félix, with a foul fistula, which filled the whole ward with its odour. In one sleeping hand lay his little round mirror, in the other, he clutched his comb. With daylight, he would trim and comb his moustache, his poor, little drooping moustache, and twirl the ends of it.

Classics

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

The Backwash of War is a classic World War One history text by Ellen N. La Motte. This war has been described as "Months of boredom, punctuated by moments of intense fright." The writer of these sketches has experienced many "months of boredom," in a French military field hospital, situated ten kilometres behind the lines, in Belgium. During these months, the lines have not moved, either forward or backward, but have remained dead-locked, in one position.

World War One has been described as "Months of boredom, punctuated by moments of intense fright." The writer of these sketches has experienced many "months of boredom," in a French military field hospital, situated ten kilometres behind the lines, in Belgium. During these months, the lines have not moved, either forward or backward, but have remained dead-locked, in one position.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by La Motte, Ellen N.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by La Motte, Ellen N.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by La Motte, Ellen N.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Backwash of War

The Backwash of War: The Human Wreckage of the Battlefield as Witnessed by an American Hospital Nurse

The Backwash of War

The Backwash of War

The Backwash of War

The Backwash of War

The Backwash of War: An Extraordinary American Nurse in World War I

The Backwash of War

The Backwash of War

The Backwash of War