Trained to Kill
Soldiers at War
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- € 25,99
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- € 25,99
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In two decades of clinical work with Vietnam veterans, psychiatrist Theodore Nadelson sought to understand a seeming paradox about his patients: even veterans being treated for post traumatic stress disorder often still felt attracted to the danger and violence of combat and killing. How this could be possible became a central focus of Nadelson's work and thought, as he looked to veterans' stories and within himself for pieces of the human puzzle.
This compelling book is the result of that exploration. In it, Nadelson confronts a dark side of human psychology with sensitivity and depth, revealing startling truths about the allure of violence. Among the topics he addresses are the ways in which the concept of war shapes boys' lives from an early age, what happens when killing becomes a job, and how memories of the thrill of combat affect a soldier after the war is over. He probes the aftermath of September 11, including the historic implications of women's experience in the military. A veteran himself, the author weaves together insights from his own clinical and military experience and from the moving narratives of former soldiers with his thoughtful analysis of readings from world literature to answer tough questions: What does our attraction to killing mean for the future of war and civilization? What implications does it have for the way we understand peacetime violence in our society?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Nadelson, who died in 2003, was a psychoanalyst who taught at Boston University School of Medicine and headed the Boston VA Medical Center's psychiatric service unit for two decades. This close examination of how civilians are turned into soldiers (everything from TV to gym class plays a role), and how war veterans then cope when re-entering society, is based on Nadelson's extensive work with Vietnam veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Nadelson himself was drafted into the army and served during the Korean War, and he combines analysis of clinical studies with empathetic insights into the personal experiences of the men he treated. The resulting narrative is by turns dryly academic and compellingly journalistic. One interesting confirmation of long-held beliefs: a major reason that those who served in Vietnam have suffered disproportionately high incidences of PTSD, Nadelson says, is that the nation was so deeply and bitterly divided over that war.