John M. Kinder is assistant professor of American studies and history at Oklahoma State University.
We hear a lot about the 'human cost of war,' but Kinder's book not only exposes us to its dismembering horror, but also asks us to follow disabled service-personnel back into the civilian world after the war, where they struggle to reinvent their lives. It is a compassionate account of terrible suffering, which many veterans don't survive. The big question remains: why have we still not learnt the lesson of war? (Joanna Bourke, University of London)