Book Review: The Roses of No Man's Land

[osprey_archer]

I've finished Lyn Macdonald's The Roses of No Man's Land, which focuses on the English and American medical teams at work during World War I. The title comes from a song about the nurses, but the book itself also includes reminiscences from doctors, ambulance drivers, wounded soldiers, etc. Rather than simply quote from these reminiscences, the book interleaves them with the text: there will be a few paragraphs explaining about, say, the then-novel technology of blood transfusions, then a reminiscence by a doctor who pioneered the technique, and another reminiscence by a soldier who gave blood to save another soldier's life (at the time apparently they couldn't store the blood; you had to have a donor right there).

Sometimes actually I did want a little more analysis, but it is really effective to read about it in the words of the people who were there - sometimes reminiscences years later, sometimes excerpts from letters or diary entries they wrote at the time.

The technique is particularly devastating in the last chapter, which interleaves ​headlines and reminiscences about victory celebrations with recollections about nursing victims of the Spanish flu. (Like Covid, the Spanish flu was a global pandemic that was also strikingly local: there were hot pockets where people were dying in droves, and other places not even very far away almost untouched by flu.) ​

A couple of more specific notes:

Later in the war, forward medical officers were instructed to stop diagnosing shellshock at the front, but to send those men to hospital with the note Not Yet Diagnosed (Nervous). In other sources I've seen this presented as more or less a conspiracy to screw over the shellshocked (as Macdonald notes, some medical officers at the time saw it this way, too), but Macdonald argues that the policy was a response to the fact that most frontline medical officers simply didn't have the training to tell shellshock and sheer exhaustion apart.

Actually, it might not be a lack of training, but simply that in the early stages you can't tell those things apart, at least not in battlefield conditions where there are so many casualties that there is literally no time to spend on anyone who is not actively in danger of dying right that minute.

Although the book focuses mainly on British & American experiences, it notes in passing that the French medical organization was so inadequate that more French soldiers died of wounds than illness. Not because the French were particularly good at treating illness, mind, but because they were SO bad at getting wounded soldiers off the battlefield in a timely fashion. The more I read, the more baffled I become by the French army's priorities. Both the English and the German armies were so concerned for the health and safety and amusement of their soldiers, and the French army just doesn't seem to have given a shit?

Also, in a fun moment of synchronicity with D. K. Broster's Flight of the Heron (I've just gotten to the part where Ewen takes a projectile to the chest because it MIGHT have hit Lochiel otherwise), this book contains a cameo appearance by another Lochiel, as described by his adoring subordinate: "His name was Robertson and he was in the Cameron Highlanders, and his main topic of conversation when he began to get better was his commanding officer, Cameron of Lochiel. No one ever had, or according to him ever could have, such a wonderful man to command them. Robertson simply worshipped him."

Apparently people are just Like That about the Camerons of Lochiel.

Comments

[lilysea]

The very earliest blood transfusions were done by stitching the donor veins to the recipient veins - and as this was done WITHOUT BLOOD TYPING it could kill the donor as well as the recipient...

When blood transfusions switched from delicate vein surgery to storing blood in bottles, the blood donation surgeons protested about how this meant "just anyone" could now administer a blood transfusion

it also meant blood transfusions went from being a very expensive procedure at only the most elite of hospitals

to something that was more accessible...

Also it wasn't until 1901 that Karl Landsteiner discovered three human blood groups (O, A, and B)

The Belgian doctor Albert Hustin performed the first non-direct transfusion on March 27, 1914, though this involved a diluted solution of blood. The Argentine doctor Luis Agote used a much less diluted solution in November of the same year. Both used sodium citrate as an anticoagulant.

[osprey_archer]

Thank you! That's very interesting!

[kore]

and as this was done WITHOUT BLOOD TYPING it could kill the donor as well as the recipient

I remembered that from the annotated Dracula! lol

[regshoe]

That sounds like a fascinating book—I really enjoy that style of history writing that combines frequent quoting from primary sources with the author's own explanations, interpretations and so on. And an interesting topic.

No one ever had, or according to him ever could have, such a wonderful man to command them. Robertson simply worshipped him

Aww! (Also, are you enjoying Flight of the Heron?)

[osprey_archer]

Yeah, it's great to hear the participants' own voices describing their experiences. Also really interesting when Macdonald juxtaposes dueling perspectives, like a section where a doctor notes that the war made him an atheist followed immediately by a nurse recounting how the war rekindled her faith in God.

I have just gotten to the part where Keith has TORN back to the fort (despite the fact that he's carrying dispatches!) because he's heard that Guthrie convinced Ewen that Keith betrayed him, and he just can't bear for Ewen to continue to believe such an awful thing, especially given that he has ALSO heard that Ewen has given up Lochiel's location and the only possible explanation is TORTURE. The FEELINGS. The LOYALTY. The ANGST. (Also Keith all "well, if it was philanthropy that prompted me to look after Ewen in the Sad Hut of Death, it certainly isn't philanthropy prompting THIS." WHAT COULD IT BE, KEITH? WHAT COULD IT POSSIBLY BE.)

[regshoe]

Certainly not philanthropy! That's one of my favourite lines in the book :D Argh, the emotions and drama of that whole section are such fun—and there's even better to come in a bit...

WHAT COULD IT BE, KEITH? WHAT COULD IT POSSIBLY BE.

:D

[luzula]

Hee, so it's not just Ewen, then!

I can't resist telling another Lochiel anecdote, which is not about adoration, but: Sir Ewen Cameron, the 17th Lochiel, supposedly killed the last wolf in Britain in 1680. He also wrote in his memoirs about the skirmish in which he bit the throat out of an officer in the Inverlochy garrison. The werewolf AUs write themselves...

[osprey_archer]

Apparently all the Lochiels across the ages are just irresistible that way! Maybe it's the power of their werewolf charisma??

[kore]

Ooh, this sounds neat -- a really cool structure.

[osprey_archer]

Yeah! It was a lot of fun.

[asakiyume]

I had no idea they were already doing blood transfusions at that point. Wow!

Re: the Spanish flu, it freaks me out that the US is inching ever closer to the death totals we had for that pandemic--and yet the overall world death toll is *way* less than for that pandemic. Mysterious.

[osprey_archer]

The Spanish flu was much deadlier on a deaths-per-cases way, too, so we really have no excuse. It's just maddening to think about.

[oracne]

Macdonald had been a radio producer and worked on documentaries, which I think contributes both to the interweaving style of her books and the easy flow.

[osprey_archer]

Oh! Yes, that absolutely makes sense with the structure of her books. You can almost see an interview structure in there: the interviewer providing some context for the listeners, and then letting the person being interviewed talk about their experiences.