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Après la Guerre, ANZAC stories, 1919-1939, John Ramsland

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

contains biographical information

illustrationsportraits

index present

non fiction

Après la Guerre

bibliography

John Ramsland

ANZAC stories, 1919-1939

This book explores the lives of many ex-servicemen and women when they returned to civilian life after the Great War. The line separating the living from the dead is exposed by the author's story-telling skill and research in exploring the deep laboratories of the mind. Attention is paid to the war's aftermath that altered the European map with the might fall of eagles -- the German, Austrian and Russian Empires. Among the many soldier who returned there were initial celebrations, like the great march in Melbourne on St Patrick's Day 1920, and then the long silence with wisps of war stories not listened to. 'Disappointment crowded on disappointment' -- especially with First Nations Diggers. There were mistakes and there were many achievements, especially in the rapid growth of medicine, sustained service to the community in lifesaving and ex-soldiers help organisations. The many individual post-war stories of struggle and success are self-contained here, while integrated in a dominant narrative of people caught in the stream of rapid social change. An emphasis has been placed on the health struggles of the damaged. Memories abound in the written word and in the hundreds of silent war memorials

adult