Description:
The book examines how the children of Far East Prisoners of War (FEPOW) remembered their childhoods and how, through different forms of memory practice, they were able to revisit the relationships with their fathers.
Brief description: Rohan McWilliam is Professor of Modern British History and Co-Director of the Labour History Research Unit at Anglia Ruskin University, UK. He has written extensively on the history of radicalism from the 19th century onwards and is the editor of (with Jonathan Davis), Labour and the Left in the 1980s (2017). He writes regularly on politics for The Conversation and other publications and has commented on current affairs for, amongst other outlets, The Observer and Times Radio.
Review Quotes:
"This important study does much to address feelings of neglect and sheds light on the family dynamics and legacies of those who survived the physical and mental challenges of the prisoner-of-war camps." --War in History
"This important study does much to address feelings of neglect and sheds light on the family dynamics and legacies of those who survived the physical and mental challenges of the prisoner-of-war camps." --War in History "Terry Smyth's book is a deeply personal, yet scholarly, account of trauma, intergenerational memory, and the lasting effects of wartime captivity. The emotions expressed and experienced are raw and often overwhelming, but his message is hopeful: through empathy and imagination, recovery is possible." --Joanna Bourke, Professor, Birkbeck, University of London, UK "Terry Smyth's book is a deeply personal, yet scholarly, account of trauma, intergenerational memory, and the lasting effects of wartime captivity. The emotions expressed and experienced are raw and often overwhelming, but his message is hopeful: through empathy and imagination, recovery is possible." --Joanna Bourke, Professor, Birkbeck, University of London, UK "Captive Fathers, Captive Children is an extraordinary book. On the one hand it is a deeply researched and poignant account of the return and home lives of Far East Prisoners of War (FEPOWS), seen through the eyes of their children, of whom Terry is one. On the other, it investigates the historical pursuits of FEPOW children and why they are drawn to reconstruct the traumatic pasts of their fathers. It is at once a memoir, a social history of POWs, an ethnography of commemoration and an exploration of the subjectivity of descendants." --Michael Roper, Professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Essex, UK "Captive Fathers, Captive Children is an extraordinary book. On the one hand it is a deeply researched and poignant account of the return and home lives of Far East Prisoners of War (FEPOWS), seen through the eyes of their children, of whom Terry is one. On the other, it investigates the historical pursuits of FEPOW children and why they are drawn to reconstruct the traumatic pasts of their fathers. It is at once a memoir, a social history of POWs, an ethnography of commemoration and an exploration of the subjectivity of descendants." --Michael Roper, Professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Essex, UK