 |  | | | An intimate history of killing | Tuesday 23 October 2001 | | |
The newspapers are full of the story of the former public schoolgirl turned American Top Gun, who is currently flying missions in Afghanistan. She describes her excitement as her bombs hit their targets.
The historian Joanna Bourke has written about the euphoria that soldiers feel as they go into battle, and how high-tech war can resemble video games.
Jenni talks to Joanna Bourke, who is Professor of History at Birkbeck College, about whether soldiers - both men and women - have to feel that euphoria to do what they do. Squadron leader Chris Huckstep, a serving officer in the RAF, joins the discussion.
An Intimate History of Killing - Face-To-Face Killing in Twentieth-Century Warfare by Joanna Bourke (Granta Books, ISBN: 186207321X, £9.99).
Joanna Bourke is also the author of The Second World War - A People's History (Oxford University Press, ISBN: 0192802240, £14.99).
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