by Chris Hedges (Author), Mark De Rond (Author), Chris Hedges (Author)
Doctors at War is a candid account of a trauma surgical team based, for a tour of duty, at a field hospital in Helmand, Afghanistan. Mark de Rond tells of the highs and lows of surgical life in hard-hitting detail, bringing to life a morally ambiguous world in which good people face impossible choices and in which routines designed to normalize experience have the unintended effect of highlighting war's absurdity. With stories that are at once comical and tragic, de Rond captures the surreal experience of being a doctor at war. He lifts the cover on a world rarely ever seen, let alone written about, and provides a poignant counterpoint to the archetypical, adrenaline-packed, macho tale of what it is like to go to war.Here the crude and visceral coexist with the tender and affectionate. The author tells of well-meaning soldiers at hospital reception, there to deliver a pair of legs in the belief that these can be reattached to their comrade, now in mid-surgery; of midsummer Christmas parties and pancake breakfasts and late-night sauna sessions; of interpersonal rivalries and banter; of caring too little or too much; of tenderness and compassion fatigue; of hell and redemption; of heroism and of playing God. While many good firsthand accounts of war by frontline soldiers exist, this is one of the first books ever to bring to life the experience of the surgical teams tasked with mending what war destroys.
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 176
Publisher: ILR Press
Published: 07 Mar 2017
ISBN 10: 1501705482
ISBN 13: 9781501705489
This text provides renewed insight into the irrational world of humans, where we engage in endless efforts to kill one another while mustering immense energy to save and repair those injured and harmed in the process.
-- M. W. Carr, US Army Watercraft & Riverine Operations, US Coast Guard and US Navy Diving * Choice *The book turns reflexive when, back home, de Rond finds himself `disillusioned with what I felt was a pedestrian, low-status, egocentric game of academia' (p. 133). Confronted with the human consequences of war, academia can seem hopeless (p. 128). Once again academics are faced with the question, does our work matter? And once again the moment can turn existential. If academics do immerse themselves in de Rond's book, they will find themselves on firmer ground no matter what they conclude about what matters.
-- Karl E. Weick * Administrative Science Quarterly *This is an amazing and fast read that tears at the reader's every emotion. It leaves one ready to serve and be thankful for the sacrifice of so many in the medical community.
-- Lt. Col. Jason E. Pelletier, U.S. Army, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas * Military Review: The Professional Journal of the U.S. Army *[de Rond's talent at describing places, spaces, and objects is nothing short of amazing.... Doctors at War should be read by anyone who hasn't seen a war.
-- Barbara Czarniawska * Organization *Mark de Rond brilliantly presents the human side of those doctors, making them incredibly relatable. So relatable, that we might for one second forget about the barbarity they witness and how emotionally strong they must be, to imagine ourselves wanting to embrace the same challenges and purpose.
* Symbolic Interaction *Doctors at War is a tale of considerable power. It's an impressionistic account of a British field hospital told in an emotive voice; it is hardly dispassionate, but that is its strength. Mark de Rond depicts the workaday life of army surgeons on field deployment brilliantly and without glamor. He brings the Afghanistan war into sharp focus by highlighting the human costs of the conflict.
-- John Van Maanen, Erwin H. Schell Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management, author of Tales of the FieldA page-turner, Doctors at War is not for the faint-hearted. De Rond's masterful narrative brings into sharp focus the absurdities of clashing organizational, professional, and cultural values and practices.
-- Dvora Yanow, author of Interpretive Research DesignAfter reading de Rond's account of intubating children, incising bellies, stitching up wounds, and amputating legs, one's understanding of the ghastliness of modern war and its so-called collateral damage will never be the same. A must-read for politicians authorizing the use of deadly force and for all the citizens electing them.
-- Michel Anteby, author of Manufacturing MoralsBrilliantly written, brutally honest, and often very funny, this is a powerfully affecting book. Think House of God, with its tired, funny, sometimes cynical but totally dedicated medics; mix in some Dispatches, add a handful of MASH, and you have Doctors at War. The book deserves a place as one of the best to come out of the Afghanistan debacle.
-- Frank Ledwidge, author of Losing Small WarsIn Doctors at War, Mark de Rond shines a light on a reality we are not supposed to see. It is a reality, especially in an age of endless techno war, we must confront if we are to recover the human.
Mark de Rond takes us into the dark territory of doctors working in 'the world's bloodiest hospital.' This book is a vivid account of the lived experience of doctors at war.
-- Katherine C. Kellogg, author of Challenging OperationsThis is an absolutely brilliant book. I was at Camp Bastion in the summer of 2010, and what it captures so well the feelings that we all had at the time. It is without doubt the best book I have ever read about the medical feelings we all have.
-- David Malcolm Nott OBE OStJ FRCS is a Welsh consultant surgeon who works mainly in London hospitals as a general and vascular surgeon, but also volunteers to work in disaster and war zones and also organises training for others in this emergency work. He has been honoured for this dangerous work and
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