Healing the Soldier,Restoring the Nation: Representations of Shell Shock in the USA During and After the First World War

Abstract

This article examines representations of shell shock in American culture during and after the First World War. It draws on the large historiography of First World War-era shell shock in Europe where shell shock came to represent the incurable wounds of the soldier and nation. Examining medical discussions, popular films, works of literature, magazines, and newspapers from 1915–40, this article asserts that in contrast to Europeans, Americans saw shell shock as a temporary, curable injury of war. This understanding uniquely framed the way Americans viewed not only returning veterans, but also US global positioning and responsibility immediately after the war. During the 1920s in the USA, the figure of the uncured shell-shocked veteran took on new meanings, as the wound of shell shock became part of larger debates over the nature of mental illness and the government’s responsibility to care for its veterans. Specifically after the stock market crash of 1929, the term helped to create a new language deployed in connection with global economic hardship and governmental economic assistance.