Doctors at War: Life and Death in a Field Hospital (The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work)

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.

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.

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.

[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.

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.

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.

A 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.

After 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.

Brilliantly 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.

In 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.

This 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.