Achilles in Vietnam

Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character

By: Jonathan Shay M.D. M.D.

Narrated by: David Strathairn

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.

This was an excellent read.

I can’t believe I never heard of this book. More folks in our military and mental health communities should learn from this!

Must read for any veteran. Yeah you

This book was one of the first ones that I ever left to review for. It’s amazing the messages powerful it resonates, and anyone that listens to this book will be able to take something away from it.

ANAZING

Enough said. This is a must and the reading is phenomenal. The ONLY reason it’s five stars is because I can’t give it more. AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME.

"If you fail to feel the pain of others...

You do not deserve the name of man." ~Saadi Shirazi
This is the closest I've ever been able to get in trying to understand the agony my dad experienced during the war and upon coming home. Thank you for the emotional reading of the personal testimonies. He never broke down in front of me, he hid his pain behind a wall of indifference. This book is my ladder so I can climb it.

Great

This is a fantastic primer to PTSD and understanding how it affects people. the book shows its age, but i believe that the lessons in it are still just a valuable today, as when it was written.