The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Book Cover for: Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character, Jonathan Shay

Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character

Jonathan Shay

In this strikingly original and groundbreaking book, Dr. Shay examines the psychological devastation of war by comparing the soldiers of Homer's "Iliad" with Vietnam veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Although the "Iliad" was written twenty-seven centuries ago it has much to teach about combat trauma, as do the more recent, compelling voices and experiences of Vietnam vets.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Scribner Book Company
  • Publish Date: Oct 1st, 1995
  • Pages: 272
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.41in - 5.53in - 0.68in - 0.50lb
  • EAN: 9780684813219
  • Categories: NeuropsychologyPsychopathology - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)Psychotherapy - General

About the Author

Shay, Jonathan: - Jonathan Shay, MD., PhD., a MacArthur Fellow, is a clinical psychiatrist whose treatment of combat trauma suffered by Vietnam veterans has deepened understanding of the effects of warfare on the individual. He worked as Veterans Affairs psychiatrist at the VA Outpatient Clinic in Boston, Massachusetts for twenty years. His work on moral injury is found in his books, Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character and Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming. In 2018, Volunteers of America established The Shay Moral Injury Center, named in his honor and dedicated to furthering knowledge about moral injury in the many populations who experience it. He lives in the Boston area.

More books by Jonathan Shay

Book Cover for: Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming, Jonathan Shay

Praise for this book

Thomas E. Neven Marine Corps Gazette Shay's astute analysis of the human psyche and his inventive linking of his patients' symptoms to the actions of the characters in Homer's classic story make this book well worth reading for anyone who would lead troops in both peace and war.
Jon Spayde The Utne Reader ...eloquent, disturbing, and original...
Herbert Mitgang The New York Times A transcendent literary adventure. His compassionate book deserves a place in the lasting literature of the Vietnam War.