First published in 1926, "A Man Could Stand Up" is part three of Parade's End Ford Madox Ford's tetrology set in the World War I era (1914 to 1918) in England and in the trenches in France. Parade’s End is one of the outstanding works about World War I and British society before, during, and after that cataclysm.
In "A Man Could Stand Up" the hero, Christopher Tietjens, and suffragette campaigner Valentine Wannop are united on Armistice Day.
Ford Madox Ford (1873 – 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals, The English Review and The Transatlantic Review, were instrumental in the development of early 20th-century English literature. He is now remembered best for his publications "The Good Soldier", the Parade's End tetralogy and The Fifth Queen trilogy.