One Voice: Pacifist Writings from the Second World War

by Vera Brittain

Vera Brittain worked as a nurse in the First World War - a war in which her brother, his best friend and her own fiancé were killed. Shortly after the War she published her classic book Testament of Youth and moved gradually towards a position of Christian pacifism. It was during the Second World War that she published the two short books included in this volume, Seeds of Chaos and Humiliation with Honour. In them she argued the pacifist cause and as the horrors of the end of the Second World War became manifest (Dresden, Hiroshima) her books became increasingly well know and influential. It was in 1943 that Vera Brittain began work on these books, which she termed a 'final appeal' against saturation bombing. Hamburg 'surpassed them all in horror': On the night of 27-28 July 1943, several square miles of the residential and commercial heart of the city were engulfed in a firestorm which burned for several hours at a temperature of 1,000 degrees centigrade. This is the background out of which these powerful texts were inspired. This edition includes an introduction by Aleksandra Bennett of McMaster University in Canada and a preface by Shirley Williams, Vera Brittain's daughter.

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Vera Mary Brittain was an English writer and pacifist, best remembered as the author of the best-selling 1933 memoir Testament of Youth, recounting her experiences during World War I and the beginning of her journey towards pacifism.

Her daughter is Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, who is a British politician and academic who represents the Liberal Democrats.

Reviews

[Géraldine Grout · Rating 5 out of 5]

contains Humiliation of Honour and Seed of Chaos

both are Vera Brittain's experiences of WWII and her commitment into pacifism