'A Student in Arms'

Donald Hankey and Edwardian Society at War

Nonfiction, Art & Architecture, Art History, History, Modern, 20th Century
Cover of the book 'A Student in Arms' by Ross Davies, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ross Davies ISBN: 9781317186519
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: March 16, 2016
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Ross Davies
ISBN: 9781317186519
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: March 16, 2016
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

Donald Hankey was a writer who saw himself as a ’student of human nature’ and peacetime Edwardian Britain as a society at war with itself. Wounded in a murderous daylight infantry charge near Ypres, Hankey began sending despatches to The Spectator from hospital in 1915. Trench life, wrote Hankey, taught that ’the gentleman’ is a type not a social class. In one calm, humane, eyewitness report after another under the byline ’A Student in Arms’, Hankey revealed how the civilian volunteers of Kitchener’s Army, many with little stake in Edwardian society, put their betters to shame nonetheless. A runaway best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic, Hankey’s prose vied in popularity with the poetry of Rupert Brooke. After he was killed on the Somme in another daylight infantry charge, Hankey joined Brooke as an international symbol of promise foregone. British propaganda backed publication in the-then neutral United States, yet at home Hankey had to dodge the censors to tell the truth as he saw it. This, the first scholarly biography, has been made possible by the recovery of Hankey papers long thought lost. Dr Davies traces the life of an Edwardian rebel from privileged birth into a banking dynasty that had owned slaves to spokesman for the ordinary man who, when put to the test of battle, proves to be not-so-ordinary. This study of Hankey’s life, writing and vast audience - military and civilian - enlarges our understanding of how throughout the English-speaking world people managed to fight or endure a war for which little had prepared them.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Donald Hankey was a writer who saw himself as a ’student of human nature’ and peacetime Edwardian Britain as a society at war with itself. Wounded in a murderous daylight infantry charge near Ypres, Hankey began sending despatches to The Spectator from hospital in 1915. Trench life, wrote Hankey, taught that ’the gentleman’ is a type not a social class. In one calm, humane, eyewitness report after another under the byline ’A Student in Arms’, Hankey revealed how the civilian volunteers of Kitchener’s Army, many with little stake in Edwardian society, put their betters to shame nonetheless. A runaway best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic, Hankey’s prose vied in popularity with the poetry of Rupert Brooke. After he was killed on the Somme in another daylight infantry charge, Hankey joined Brooke as an international symbol of promise foregone. British propaganda backed publication in the-then neutral United States, yet at home Hankey had to dodge the censors to tell the truth as he saw it. This, the first scholarly biography, has been made possible by the recovery of Hankey papers long thought lost. Dr Davies traces the life of an Edwardian rebel from privileged birth into a banking dynasty that had owned slaves to spokesman for the ordinary man who, when put to the test of battle, proves to be not-so-ordinary. This study of Hankey’s life, writing and vast audience - military and civilian - enlarges our understanding of how throughout the English-speaking world people managed to fight or endure a war for which little had prepared them.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book Reading in a Second Language by Ross Davies
Cover of the book Teaching Reading by Ross Davies
Cover of the book Value, Capital and Rent by Ross Davies
Cover of the book Shopping with Freud by Ross Davies
Cover of the book Rome in the Pyrenees by Ross Davies
Cover of the book The Arts and the Legal Academy by Ross Davies
Cover of the book Southeast Asian Perspectives on Power by Ross Davies
Cover of the book Genders, Transgenders and Sexualities in Japan by Ross Davies
Cover of the book The Routledge Companion to Transmedia Studies by Ross Davies
Cover of the book Climate Change and the Crisis of Capitalism by Ross Davies
Cover of the book Nuclear Disarmament by Ross Davies
Cover of the book The Project Manager's Guide to Handling Risk by Ross Davies
Cover of the book Lean Culture for the Construction Industry by Ross Davies
Cover of the book American Women Short Story Writers by Ross Davies
Cover of the book Mapping Christian Rhetorics by Ross Davies
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy