This pathbreaking book paints a vivid picture of the dynamics of total war on rural communities, from the calling up of troops to the reintegration of veterans into society. Drawing on intimate firsthand accounts in diaries and letters, it challenges some strongly held assumptions about the Great War. The author shows that through the exchange of letters and frequent furloughs, rural soldiers maintained a high degree of contact to their home lives and suggests that the war's effects were perhaps not as completely devastating as previously suggested.