Medicine and Victory: British Military Medicine in the Second World War

by Mark Harrison

Medicine and Victory is the first comprehensive account of British military medicine in the Second World War since the publication of the official history in the early 1950s. Drawing on a wide range of official and non-official sources, the book examines medical work in all the main theatres of the war, from the front line to the base hospital. All aspects of medical work are covered, including the prevention of disease, and the disposal and treatment of casualties.

280 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Mark Harrison is professor of the history of medicine and director of the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, University of Oxford. His books include Medicine and Victory: British Military Medicine in the Second World War and The Medical War: British Military Medicine in the First World War, for each of which he was awarded the Templer Medal. He lives in Oxford, UK.

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Reviews

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a very thorough overview of Medicine throughout the Second World War, from France to North Africa to Sicily. It covers a number of new developments made during the war, as well as techniques that were improved or abandoned due to ineffectiveness. The writing style is easy to understand without being too simplistic. While the book doesn't go into a huge level of detail on any one aspect - it is very much just an overview - it allows you to understand Second World War Medicine in a way that many other books fail to do.

I suspect that this book is aimed more at the Historian than the Medic, but despite the fact that my interests fall towards the latter, I enjoyed this book.