The Labour of Loss
Mourning, Memory and Wartime Bereavement in Australia

The Labour of Loss, first published in 1999, explores how mothers, fathers, widows, relatives and friends dealt with their experiences of grief and loss during and after the First and Second World Wars. Based on an examination of private loss through letters and diaries, it makes a significant contribution to understanding how people came to terms with the deaths of friends and family. The book considers the ways in which the bereaved dealt with grief psychologically, and analyses the social and cultural context within which they mourned their dead. Damousi shows that grief remained with people as they attempted to re-build an internal and external world without those to whom they had been so fundamentally attached. Unlike other studies in this area, The Labour of Loss considers how mourning affected men and women in different ways, and analyses the gendered dimensions of grief.

Reviews & endorsements

' … compelling … The Labour of Loss offers a new perspective on the impact of twentieth-century warfare, because it engages seriously with the dimensions of grief and emotion experienced by soldiers and their families.' Kate Darian-Smith, The Times Literary Supplement

Customer reviews

Product details

• Date Published: August 1999
• format: Hardback
• isbn: 9780521660044
• length: 222 pages

• dimensions: 237 x 159 x 21 mm
• weight: 0.475kg
• availability: Available