Jerry Palmer

Nurse Memoirs from the Great War in Britain, France, and Germany examines an understudied corpus of memoirs in English, French, and German stemming from the unprecedented involvement of women in the war effort. Jerry Palmer considers the memoirs in relationship to public opinion, collective memory and other women’s writing about the war. Through close-readings of the memoirs and their contexts, the book identifies themes present in the texts and considers the nurse memoir as rhetoric—examining to what extent the texts are promoting or countering arguments in the public sphere about their involvement or more widely about women’s position in society. Palmer explores the multiple contexts related to the nurse memoirs, including public response to volunteer wartime nursing, the organisation of the military health services of the three nations and their conduct in the war, and changes in the post-war organization of public health services and the professionalization of nursing.

Buttons, Bolt Cutters and Barricades, Texas Anti-Nuke Actions, is a first-hand account of the historical actions taken in trying to stop or at least slow the construction of nuclear power plants in the United States and the Comanche Peak plant in particular. The strategical use of nonviolent direct action including civil disobedience by the Comanche Peak Life Force activists should be an inspiration to others in the fight for clean air, clean water, and safe renewable energy.American history is not the story of a few great men, but of grassroots people rising up to confront abusive power elites. Jerry Palmer's first-hand account of the people's resistance to nuclear power at the Comanche Peak nuke is a riveting example of that history. The courage and daring of these volunteers should be an inspiration to others in the struggle for clean air, water, and safe renewable energy - a story that will make you think and want to take some direct action of your own.- Jim HightowerAuthor, radio commentator, editor of theHightower Lowdown, and host of The HightowerChat & Chew Happy Hour.

Nurse Memoirs from the Great War in Britain, France, and Germany examines an understudied corpus of memoirs in English, French, and German stemming from the unprecedented involvement of women in the war effort. Jerry Palmer considers the memoirs in relationship to public opinion, collective memory and other women’s writing about the war. Through close-readings of the memoirs and their contexts, the book identifies themes present in the texts and considers the nurse memoir as rhetoric—examining to what extent the texts are promoting or countering arguments in the public sphere about their involvement or more widely about women’s position in society. Palmer explores the multiple contexts related to the nurse memoirs, including public response to volunteer wartime nursing, the organisation of the military health services of the three nations and their conduct in the war, and changes in the post-war organization of public health services and the professionalization of nursing.

This book analyses soldiers’ memoirs from the Great War of 1914-18 from Britain, France and Germany. It considers both the authors’ composition of the memoirs and the public response to them. It provides contextual analysis through a survey of the different types of contemporary writing about the Great War, through an analysis of changes in the language used to describe combat, and through an analysis of those people whose accounts of the war were either excluded or marginalised. It also considers the international response to the most successful of the texts. The purpose of the analysis is to show how soldiers’ memoirs contributed to the collective memory of the war and how they influenced public opinion about the war. These texts are both autobiographical and historical and their relationship to the fields of autobiography and historical writing is also considered, as well as to the distinction between fact and fiction.

This book analyses soldiers’ memoirs from the Great War of 1914-18 from Britain, France and Germany. It considers both the authors’ composition of the memoirs and the public response to them. It provides contextual analysis through a survey of the different types of contemporary writing about the Great War, through an analysis of changes in the language used to describe combat, and through an analysis of those people whose accounts of the war were either excluded or marginalised. It also considers the international response to the most successful of the texts. The purpose of the analysis is to show how soldiers’ memoirs contributed to the collective memory of the war and how they influenced public opinion about the war. These texts are both autobiographical and historical and their relationship to the fields of autobiography and historical writing is also considered, as well as to the distinction between fact and fiction.

'Tumber and Palmer have provided an invaluable review of how journalists covered and reported the Iraq war and its aftermath. Their exhaustive research has resulted in an impressive analysis that makes this book essential reading' - John Owen, Executive Producer of News Xchange and Visiting Professor of Journalism, City University 'This is a meticulously researched book that lays bare the way the war was reported. Decide for yourself whether the media 'embeds' - of whom I was one - were the world's eyes and ears inside the military, or merely the puppets of the Pentagon and the Ministry of Defence in London' - Ben Brown, BBC 'Media at War offers insights into the ways in which media at war inevitably become participants in both the military and the political wars' - Professor Michael Gurevitch, University of Maryland International media coverage of the war in Iraq provoked public scrutiny as well debate amongst journalists themselves. Media at War offers a critical overview of the coverage in the context of other preceding wars, including the first Gulf War, and opens up the debate on the key questions that emerged during the crisis. For example, - What did we actually gain from 'live, on the spot' reporting? - Were journalists adequately trained and protected? - How compromised were the so-called 'embedded' journalists? Tumber and Palmer's analysis covers both the pre-war and post war phase, as well as public reaction to these events, and as such provides an invaluable framework for understanding how the media and news organisations operated during the Iraq Crisis.

'Tumber and Palmer have provided an invaluable review of how journalists covered and reported the Iraq war and its aftermath. Their exhaustive research has resulted in an impressive analysis that makes this book essential reading' - John Owen, Executive Producer of News Xchange and Visiting Professor of Journalism, City University 'This is a meticulously researched book that lays bare the way the war was reported. Decide for yourself whether the media 'embeds' - of whom I was one - were the world's eyes and ears inside the military, or merely the puppets of the Pentagon and the Ministry of Defence in London' - Ben Brown, BBC 'Media at War offers insights into the ways in which media at war inevitably become participants in both the military and the political wars' - Professor Michael Gurevitch, University of Maryland International media coverage of the war in Iraq provoked public scrutiny as well debate amongst journalists themselves. Media at War offers a critical overview of the coverage in the context of other preceding wars, including the first Gulf War, and opens up the debate on the key questions that emerged during the crisis. For example, - What did we actually gain from 'live, on the spot' reporting? - Were journalists adequately trained and protected? - How compromised were the so-called 'embedded' journalists? Tumber and Palmer's analysis covers both the pre-war and post war phase, as well as public reaction to these events, and as such provides an invaluable framework for understanding how the media and news organisations operated during the Iraq Crisis.

Ground-breaking in its analysis of the relationship between journalists and sources, Spinning into Control is a useful and colorful introduction to the key issues of contemporary news reporting for students of media/communication and journalism. Fundamental to this relationship is the question of the values that determine which events are selected as "newsworthy" and which are neglected. The book provides a case study-based account of how information flows in news reporting.

This work is an introduction to the key issues of contemporary news reporting for students of media and journalism. It includes practical case studies of why some items make it into the news and others don't, how sources are used and abused, and what kind of values govern news reporting.

First published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First published in 1993. When do we laugh? Why do we laugh? What makes us stop? What does ‘humour’ consist of? Listen to any everyday conversation: it is full of the constant interruptions and detours of humour. Look at the TV schedules for any evening—how many of the programmes are comedies or contain a degree of humour? Humour and comedy invite our pleasure at every step we take—they are absolutely integral to any culture. In Taking Humour Seriously, Jerry Palmer argues that we must take humour seriously (as well as humorously) or fail to understand a fundamental part of culture. Taking Humour Seriously unravels the reasons why humour is a challenge for every different theoretical approach. It is multi-dimensional, it is part of personality and part of our cognitive and emotional processes; it is subject to social rules governing appropriate behaviour on different occasions. It is part of literary and audio-visual narrative; it is subject to moral and aesthetic judgment, and it is a rhetorical instrument. Palmer argues that it is only through investigating those separate dimensions that we can begin to understand the phenomenon of humour. Taking Humour Seriously examines the role humour and comedy play in many different types of society. It also looks at the many different approaches to its study—from Freud to anthropology, from literary criticism to biology. Finally it considers its limits—the things that prevent humour and comedy from delivering their usual pleasures—and explores the aesthetic value of those pleasures.

Potboilers looks at the many forms of popular narrative - in print, film and TV. It considers the ways in they have been analysed in literary criticism, sociology, communications, media and cultural studies. The book introduces and summarizes two decades of debate about mass-produced fictions and their position within popular culture. It assesses the methods that have been used in these debates, focussing both on narrative analysis and the communications process. It explores generic conventions, the role of commercial strategies, and the nature of the audience with reference to crime fiction, soap opera, romance and TV sitcom. Distinctions between `high' and `low' culture have relegated many popular forms to the trash-can of `great' literature. This book takes stock of the methods and concepts used to analyse popular culture and argues for a non-elitist approach to the study of literature, film and television.

Potboilers looks at the many forms of popular narrative - in print, film and TV. It considers the ways in they have been analysed in literary criticism, sociology, communications, media and cultural studies. The book introduces and summarizes two decades of debate about mass-produced fictions and their position within popular culture. It assesses the methods that have been used in these debates, focussing both on narrative analysis and the communications process. It explores generic conventions, the role of commercial strategies, and the nature of the audience with reference to crime fiction, soap opera, romance and TV sitcom. Distinctions between `high' and `low' culture have relegated many popular forms to the trash-can of `great' literature. This book takes stock of the methods and concepts used to analyse popular culture and argues for a non-elitist approach to the study of literature, film and television.