Simon Harold Walker has written a discerning account of the British soldier's experience in the Great War. He has also contributed to the broader face of battle historiography by connecting gender studies and Foucauldian analysis with the physical experiences of ordinary citizen soldiers. Though jargon and specialist analysis may put off some general readers, undergraduate students of Britain in the First World War or the bodily experience of military service, will find War Bodies both absorbing and instructive.

Michigan War Studies Review

Walker excels in carrying his audience with him as he treads through the past with the civilian bodies who enlisted, were then transformed into war bodies and later passed to either the grave or were remoulded into civilian bodies.

Scientia Militaria

Physical Control, Transformation and Damage in the First World War provides a clear argument about an important aspect of wartime experience for British servicemen, namely control over the body. It does so through the use of extensive archival research to tell a number of engaging stories.

Jessica Meyer, Associate Professor of Modern British History, University of Leeds, UK

Steeped in archival research and personal accounts, this is a necessary book about the experience of soldiers in the British Army during the First World War. Simon Harold Walker skillfully and expertly demonstrates how men conceptualized their time in uniform and physically endured life at the front. This will be a lasting contribution to the field.

Ian Isherwood, Assistant Professor of War and Memory Studies, Gettysburg College, USA