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As a child, Luke Turner was obsessed with the Second World War. He
spent hours watching Sunday war films, poring over stories of
derring-do and relishing in birthday trips to air museums. Lying in
bed beneath Airfix fighter planes suspended from his ceiling, he
would think about the men that might sit in their cockpits, and
whether he could ever be one of them. Now, as an adult who has come
to terms with a masculine identity and sexuality that is often
erased from dominant military narratives, he undertakes a
refreshingly honest analysis of his fascination with the war. In
Men at War, Turner looks beyond the increasingly retrogressive and
jingoistic ideal of a Britain that never was to recognise men of
war as creatures of love, fear, hope and desire. From writers,
filmmakers, artists and ordinary men - including those in his own
family - Turner assembles a broad cast of characters to bring the
war to life. There are conscientious objectors, a bisexual
Commando, a pacifist poet who flew for Bomber Command, a
transgender RAF pilot, a soldier who suffered in Japanese POW camps
and later in life became an LGBT+ activist, and those who simply
did what they could just to survive and return home to a
complicated peace. As the conflict moves beyond living memory and
the last veterans leave us, we are in danger of missing the
opportunity to gain a true understanding of this rich history. By
exploring a wartime experience that embraces sex, lust and the body
as much as tactics and weaponry, Turner argues that the only way we
can really understand the Second World War is to get to grips with
the complexity of the lives and identities of those who fought and
endured it.
As a child, Luke Turner was obsessed with the Second World War. He
spent hours watching Sunday war films, poring over stories of
derring-do and relishing in birthday trips to air museums. Lying in
bed beneath Airfix fighter planes suspended from his ceiling, he
would think about the men that might sit in their cockpits, and
whether he could ever be one of them. Now, as an adult who has come
to terms with a masculine identity and sexuality that is often
erased from dominant military narratives, he undertakes a
refreshingly honest analysis of his fascination with the war. In
Men at War, Turner looks beyond the increasingly retrogressive and
jingoistic ideal of a Britain that never was to recognise men of
war as creatures of love, fear, hope and desire. From writers,
filmmakers, artists and ordinary men - including those in his own
family - Turner assembles a broad cast of characters to bring the
war to life. There are conscientious objectors, a bisexual
Commando, a pacifist poet who flew for Bomber Command, a
transgender RAF pilot, a soldier who suffered in Japanese POW camps
and later in life became an LGBT+ activist, and those who simply
did what they could just to survive and return home to a
complicated peace. As the conflict moves beyond living memory and
the last veterans leave us, we are in danger of missing the
opportunity to gain a true understanding of this rich history. By
exploring a wartime experience that embraces sex, lust and the body
as much as tactics and weaponry, Turner argues that the only way we
can really understand the Second World War is to get to grips with
the complexity of the lives and identities of those who fought and
endured it.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 WAINWRIGHT BOOK PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE
2019 POLARI FIRST BOOK AWARD 'This is a book to get lost in . . . A
disturbing trauma narrative, it's also a work of delightfully low,
pants-dropping comedy, and a learned meditation' Guardian 'A brave
and beautiful book, electrifying on sex and nature, religion and
love. No one is writing quite like this' Olivia Laing 'Turns the
nature memoir genre upon its head . . . is a book full of poetry
and pathos. More than anything it is a bold and beautiful study of
how to be a true modern man' Ben Myers, Spectator At a crossroads
in his life, the demons Luke Turner has been battling since
childhood are quick to return - depression and guilt surrounding
his identity as a bisexual man, experiences of sexual abuse, and
the religious upbringing that was the cause of so much confusion.
It is among the trees of London's Epping Forest where he seeks
refuge. Away from a society that struggles to cope with the
complexities of masculinity and sexuality, Luke begins to accept
the duality that has provoked so much unrest in his life - and
reconcile the expectations of others with his own way of being.
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