[A] brisk, rewarding account of the innovative doctors and their "neurasthenic" patients who suffered unprecedented psychological distress (and in unprecedented numbers) on the Western Front.
Glass writes a simple, honest, straightforward engrossing history of the epic scale of post-traumatic stress disorder during the First World War as studied in Craiglockhart Hospital near Edinburgh. The narrative includes many individual case studies that make the war real.
Glass... delivers a clear picture of how poetry of the war... shifted not just from jingoistic to critical, but also sought out new metaphors for the agonies of the trenches, concerned as much with soldiers’ psyches as their bravery ... A stronger book might have better squared up what Owen and Sassoon’s work and friendship meant for the poetry that followed ... But though Glass doesn’t move his perspective long past the end of the war, the heft of Soldiers Don’t Go Mad demonstrates how powerful two writers with a shared sensibility can be, even in a short period of time.
Glass captures the distinctive environment of Craiglockhart and its dynamic treatment for shattered psyches, though he is careful to point out that many "cured" officers would suffer trauma for the rest of their lives. Heartrending and inspirational, Soldiers Don't Go Mad is a moving elegy on the power of art to express the inexpressible.
Within an engrossing novelistic structure, Glass... expertly weaves the stories of these men into a history of Craiglockhart and advancing insights into the causes and treatments for shell shock ... An absorbing, well-researched addition to the expansive canon of World War I literature.
