A Heavy Reckoning: War, Medicine and Survival in Afghanistan and Beyond

A Heavy Reckoning explores the modern reality of medicine and injury in wartime, from the trenches of World War One to the dusty plains of Afghanistan and the rehabilitation wards of Headley Court in Surrey. What are the costs involved in this hardest of journeys back from the brink? Mixing stories of unexpected survival with insights into the frontline of medicine, Emily Mayhew examines the complexities of PTSD, the power and potential of rehabilitation, and how far we have come in saving, healing and restoring the human body.

Dr Emily Mayhew is a military medical historian specialising in the study of severe casualty, its infliction, treatment and long-term outcomes in 20th and 21st century warfare. She is historian in residence in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College, and a Research Fellow in the Division of Surgery within the Department of Surgery and Cancer. She is the author of Wounded: From Battlefield to Blighty 1914-1918, which was shortlisted for the Wellcome Prize 2014.

There will be a signing after the event. Books will be available from a stall run by Beckenham Bookshop. Please bring cash or cheque if you wish to purchase a book.