Humor and entertainment were vital to the war effort during World War I. While entertainment provided relief to soldiers in the trenches, it also built up support for the war effort on the home front. This book looks at transnational war culture by examining seemingly light-hearted discourses on the Great War.
"This is a thoroughly enjoyable book offering insight and interest for cultural historians of the Great War the world over. Refreshingly, it deals with a number of topics otherwise overlooked in relation to the conflict, and offers contributions from a mixture of new and established academics." (Pip Gregory, Reviews in History, history.ac.uk, April, 2016)
"Tholas-Disset and Ritzenhoff have produced a volume that revivifies the battle scenes of World War I by filling the trenches with an unexpected sound: laughter. Enjoy this book for its scholarship of popular culture during the Great War, but delight in the amusing and unexpected humor that comes from films, anecdotes, poetry and songs in spite of such obvious sorrow." - Michael Cullinane, Senior Lecturer, US History, Northumbria University, UK
"Gallows humor, patriotic entertainment, and raucous consumerist fun: this collection looks at the Great War through a different lens. It shows what we can learn about the pastby taking comedy seriously." - Joanna Bourke, Professor, History, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK
"Editors Tholas-Disset andRitzenhoff, together with their international group of scholars, have beautifully risen to the challenge of 'histoire croisée/entangled history' as applied to the First World War context. By means of a purposely-cultural approach, this book examines the apparent war/laughter antinomy and humor as an antidote to trauma, and in so doing offers a remarkable contribution to the study of the Great War that will significantly complement the work of historians. Put more simply, it is a good read and a centennial must." - Serge Ricard, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, France and editor of A Companion to Theodore Roosevelt
"Humor, Entertainment and Popular Culture during World War I investigates the complex relationship between the entertainment industry, artists and the Great War, and how the experience of warfare or just being at war was often expressed through various forms of humor. The sheer scope is impressive in terms of both the nations and media covered, and each chapter presents an original and entertaining point of entry!" - David Roche, Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, France and author of Making and Remaking Horror in the 1970s and 2000s, and co-editor of Intimacy in Cinema
