Working a World of Hurt fills a lacunae in the studies of the psychological trauma wrought by war by focusing not on soldiers, but on the men and women who fought to save them in casualty clearing stations, hospitals, and prison camps. Through a rich analysis of both published and unpublished personal accounts by doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and other medical personnel from the major wars of the 20th and early 21st centuries, Acton and Potter uncover a spectrum of responses to what was often unimaginable suffering, responses that ranged from breakdown to resilience, from exhausted...