The Anatomy of Courage: The Classic WWI Study of the Psychological Effects of War

‘A remarkably human book … arresting, and sometimes even unforgettable’

Desmond McCarthy, Sunday Times

‘A fascinating book … It is not easy to do justice to Lord Moran’s discursive brilliancy … a masterly piece of work’

Times Literary Supplement

‘I set out to find how courage is born and how it is sustained in a modern army of a free people. The soldier is alone in his war with terror and we have to recognise the first signs of his defeat, that we may come in time to his rescue’

LORD MORAN

During the First World War, Lord Moran served as a medical officer in the Royal Fusiliers for two-and-a-half years. He won the Military Cross and the Italian Silver Medal for Valour. During these years in the trenches he watched closely the soldiers’ conduct under stress. The Anatomy of Courage is his sensitive and scientific study of fear and anxiety.

First published in 1945 this early, ground-breaking account of the psychological effects of war, recounted by means of vivid first-hand observation and anecdote, came at a time when shell-shock was equated with lack of moral fibre. In 1940, Moran became Churchill’s doctor and his position as a one of history’s most important war physicians was secured. His humane, considered observations, scientific analysis and proposed solutions constitute one of the great First World War sources. However, they are perhaps just as relevant to our own conflict-ridden times.