Achilles in Vietnam
Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character
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4.8 • 13 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
An original and groundbreaking examination of the psychological devastation of war through the lens of Homer’s Iliad in this “compassionate book [that] deserves a place in the lasting literature of the Vietnam War” (The New York Times).
In this moving and dazzlingly creative book, Dr. Jonathan Shay examines the psychological devastation of war by comparing the soldiers of Homer’s Iliad with Vietnam veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. A classic of war literature that has as much relevance as ever in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Achilles in Vietnam is a “transcendent literary adventure” (The New York Times) and “clearly one of the most original and most important scholarly works to have emerged from the Vietnam War” (Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried).
As a Veterans Affairs psychiatrist, Shay encountered devastating stories of unhealed PTSD and uncovered the painful paradox—that fighting for one’s country can render one unfit to be a citizen. With a sensitive and compassionate examination of the battles many Vietnam veterans continue to fight, Shay offers readers a greater understanding of PTSD and how to alleviate the potential suffering of soldiers. Although the Iliad was written twenty-seven centuries ago, Shay shows how it has much to teach about combat trauma, as do the more recent, compelling voices and experiences of Vietnam vets.
A groundbreaking and provocative monograph, Achilles in Vietnam takes readers on a literary journey that demonstrates how we can learn how war damages the mind and spirit, and work to change those things in our culture that so that we don’t continue repeating the same mistakes.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Shay is a psychiatrist specializing in treating Vietnam veterans with chronic post-traumatic stress syndrome. In this provocative monograph, he relates their experiences to Homer's portrait of Achilles in The Illiad. War, he argues, generates rage because of its intrinsic unfairness. Only one's special comrades can be trusted. The death of Patroklos drove Achilles first into passionate grief, then into berserk wrath. Shay establishes convincing parallels to combat in Vietnam, where the war was considered meaningless and mourning for dead friends was thwarted by an indifferent command structure. He convincingly recommends policies of unit rotation and unit ``griefwork''--official recognition of combat losses--as keys to sustaining what he calls a moral existence during war's human encounters. The alternatives are unrestrained revenge-driven behavior, endless reliving of the guilt such behavior causes and the ruin of good character. Shay's ideas merit attention by soldiers and scholars alike.
Customer Reviews
Excellent
A wonderful analysis of the existence of PTSD going back to Achilles (perhaps the first recorded victim of PTSD). Obviously quite academic but a book you can't put down.
Troy in vietnam
Book very informative from an academic point of view. More so than a laywoman's needs with a husband who is going through it.
My husband wasn't a " grunt" ,thank God!!!! What you write about
Was beyond " Hell " and so cruel . I thought our military and government would have more apathy and understanding. After WWII and they would have their act together. The indifference and apparent cruelty is shameful. How could they do these things to" boys"!? And sleep at night! My husband was an helicopter crew chief. And he has many bad dreams about what he saw and fire fights he lived though. Not only about picking up the dead and wounded, giving what first aid care and support he could at nineteen years old , like many of the men you wrote of .he' s greatest grief was that he could nt. do. He tried. So hard to support the solders in the flied he still griefs over it today I was hoping for more counseling information rather than comparisons between Troy and Vietnam . But I did get a better understanding of the horrors these young men and boys survived. Thank you and thank Them for their service to our country.