During the Second World War, psychiatrists, psychologists, and other experts confronted unprecedented numbers of patients, including distressed servicemen, bombed civilians, unaccompanied children, returning veterans, displaced persons, and Holocaust survivors. In the first comprehensive analysis of treatment during and after the war, Elizabeth Roberts-Pedersen examines how British and American experts interpreted and responded to these diverse patient populations. Looking at both combatants and civilians together, she demonstrates that wartime psychiatry was less concerned with individual suffering than with managing mental distress at scale, revealing profound tensions in psychiatric thought over the causes of wartime mental disorder and its treatment. Perhaps most significantly, Human Salvage shows how the Second World War brought mass violence into the clinical realm, transforming psychiatric theory and practice for decades to come.

‘Salvage - a devastating metaphor for the wounded of war. Roberts-Pedersen’s history of wartime pain tackles the ways psy-professionals grappled with questions about suffering and healing – as well as power. Relentless in her analysis and ethics; eloquent in her stories of the human costs of war. A must-read.’

Joanna Bourke - author of Five Evil Women: Hindley, West, Wuornos, Homolka, and Tucker

‘Roberts-Pedersen’s extraordinary new book is an important and innovative contribution to the ever-growing field of trauma studies. Integrating the experiences of doctors, soldiers and civilians in the wake of the Second World War, she demonstrates that total war requires a total history of its psychological effects.’

Jason Crouthamel - author of Trauma, Religion and Spirituality in Germany during the First World War