This book explores the publishing and reading practices formed and changed by the First World War. From an exploration of British and Australian trench journals to the impact of war on the literary figures of the home front, the essays provide new information about the production, circulation and reception of reading matter during this time.

Mary Hammond examines the ways in which increasing levels of mercury in the environment may be harming your emotional well-being in a book which traces the impact of mercury on mankind from the earliest days of its use to the proposal of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a global agreement which was signed into law shortly after the book's publication. High levels of mercury exposure can cause profound neurological problems resulting in physical problems ranging from pain to loss of sensation and function, but at lower levels of exposure physical problems are often preceded by emotional and...

Mary Hammond examines the role of mercury in the life of Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the creator of the Mad Hatter. Many of us are aware that the phrase mad hatter's disease is another name for mercury poisoning, and we have wondered whether the Mad Hatter suffered from mercury poisoning. The more important question, perhaps, is whether Lewis Carroll himself suffered from mercury poisoning. He was, without question, exposed to mercury in the course of his photography, and he very likely experienced further exposure due to the extraordinary prevalence of...