In this sensitive and carefully-argued study, the author persuasively questions part of the conventional wisdom on the changing relationship between war and society in the West: the widespread belief that public support for military operations overseas has become uniquely sensitive to the level of casualties sustained on the battlefield. Martinsen has produced a fascinating and deeply thought-provoking book. Mats Berdal, Kings College London, UK This fascinating book meets the need to analyse how European countries receive, discuss and remember the soldiers brought back from Afghanistan in body bags. Lucid, informative and hard-hitting, the book focuses on the real cost of war, the loss of life, and how this impacts both serving men and women and contemporary society. Heidi Reisinger, NATO Defense College, Rome