British Military Service Tribunals, 1916-1918, James McDermott, Manchester University Press, 2011, 256 pp., ISBN 9780719084775.

A scholarly analysis of the Military Service Tribunals that throws great light on the nature of society and the workings of the state. The Tribunals were formed following the introduction of conscription in order to consider applications for exemption from men deemed by the new legislation to have enlisted. McDermott valuably clarifies the consequences of imprecise legislation and demonstrates that the Tribunals exercised their degree of autonomy by recognising wider imperatives than the BEF's fighting strength. His positive reappraisal invites further reconsideration of the generally critical view of military justice, again as part of a process in which scholarship replaces prejudice as our guideline to assessments of World War One.