Sounds of War: Music in the British Armed Forces during the Great War (Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare) - Hardcover

Hanna, Emma

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 110848008X ISBN 13: 9781108480086

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2020

Synopsis

Comparatively little is known about the musical cultures of the British armed forces during the Great War. This groundbreaking study is the first to examine music's vital presence in a range of military contexts including military camps, ships, aerodromes and battlefields, canteen huts, hospitals and PoW camps. Emma Hanna argues that music was omnipresent in servicemen's wartime existence and was a vital element for the maintenance of morale. She shows how music was utilised to stimulate recruitment and fundraising, for diplomatic and propaganda purposes, and for religious, educational and therapeutic reasons. Music was not in any way ephemeral, it was unmatched in its power to cajole, console, cheer and inspire during the conflict and its aftermath. This study is a major contribution to our understanding of the wartime realities of the British armed forces during the Great War.

About this title

About the Author

Emma Hanna is a Lecturer in the School of History at the University of Kent,Canterbury. She is the author of The Great War on the Small Screen: Representing the First World War in Contemporary Britain (2009).

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2020
• ISBN 10: 110848008X
• ISBN 13: 9781108480086
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 320