{"product_id":"the-backwash-of-war-the-classic-account-of-a-first-world-war-fieldhospital-9781844862580","title":"The Backwash of War: The Classic Account of a First World War Field-Hospital","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"War  superb as it is  is not necessarily a filtering process  by which men and nations may be purified. Well  there are many people to write you of the noble side  the heroic side  the exalted side. I must write you of what I have seen  the other side  the backwash.\" Ellen La Motte  Volunteer Nurse  May 4  1916 During World War One  Ellen La Motte became one of the first American war nurses to volunteer to go to Europeand she witnessed its horrors firsthand as she worked near the Western front. Her controversial book  which the US banned in 1918  vividly and graphically describes the \"backwash of war\": the dirty  smelly  lice- and disease-ridden bodies of the wounded French soldiers she cared for. They compose the human wreckage of highly organized and industrialized warfare. Sometimes cynical  sometimes poignant  La Mottes observations retain a freshness that makes for compelling reading. Arranged into 14 vignettes depicting typical events and scenes  The Backwash of War paints a picture of that conflict that  sadly  still resonates powerfully today.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45275886911541,"sku":"ByrdShop_1844862585","price":64.19,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781844862580.jpg?v=1780517802","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-backwash-of-war-the-classic-account-of-a-first-world-war-fieldhospital-9781844862580","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}