This anthology combines poetry with substantial introductory material. Demonstrating the full range and diversity of the writing which came out of both world wars, it includes selections from established and lesser-known poets. Among them are Wilfred Owen, HD, Isaac Rosenberg, Ivor Gurney, Alun Lewis, Hamish Henderson, Sorley Maclean, David Jones and Herbert Read. The anthology also includes prose extracts from, among others, Virginia Woolf, Bertrand Russell, Robert Graves, Edgell Rickword and Stephen Spender. Featherstone's seven introductory chapters challenge the dominance of the English officer poets in the canon and suggest new ways of reading the poems.