The definitive work on Vietnam era post traumatic stress. The Author compares the way warriors (soldiers) dealt with the hardship of war in Vietnam and in the Trojan war, based on the Odyssey. The book is filled with moving vignettes, dialog from the Odyssey compared with actual discussions between Vietnam vets and the author.

What a difference a few decades makes. Guys coming back from WWII and Korea were basically told to "suck it up" - and the same with vets from Vietnam. It's not until the 21st Century that the idea enters our heads that maybe combat is an unnatural situation and people might need some help when they re-enter normal life. Recommended.

Excellently written book about the tragedy of war and some of the universal themes of trauma shared between Achilles and the modern Vietnam veteran. As an active duty Army psychiatrist I gained a lot more insight into my patients with PTSD related to combat.

Easily the best book I've ever read. The way the author is able to compare the Illiad to Vietnam is absolutely incredible. One line that really stood out to me was when he said that those who serve their country come back unfit to be its citizen.

Good book, read the first part, it is the best written. The second parts may be of interest to psychiatrists or medical people who are working and having worked with PTSD patients, but not of general interest. The first part is interesting to anybody who has read the Iliad and would like to gain a psychiatric insight into the Rage of Achilles.

I don't know, how to not give this book 5 stars. It's a very noble goal the book had to accomplish. I think for those who spend the time reflecting what this means about people today, that such vivid connections can be made to a story written 800BC, that what humans may think of as progress has been in other ways just repression.
Pretty great connections to make for myself.
I will also use this book as a source for essays I may write, for further critiques on the DSM, and other great reasons to incorporate this book as a part of my life.
Not a hard read either, very accessible.

A very in depth and profound comparison between ancient epics and the terrors of combat in the Vietnam war.

Repetitive

Case examples are a little repetitive. Started out strong and then just became a dull examination of the same stories.

Synopsis: "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."


My Review: I have been a huge fan of The Iliad since reading it in college and I have tried to read a book each year to bring greater understanding of our veterans and military members. I had high hopes for this book but was a little disappointed. I am sure this is a great book for those in the field but for me it was a difficult read. It has no flow or ease of reading, and it reads more like a bunch of short class lectures put together (or even the notes taken from a lecture). With that said it did have several good points.

An excellent comparison between a literary classic and the combat experiences of Americans in Vietnam. Extremely powerful and with a great plan for how to treat combat trauma going forward.

This was the first book I read about #PTSD that compelled me to contact the author. It really hit me and helped me understand it even more than I did. Jonathan Shay even tried to help me get my first book published but that was before PTSD was such a widely known topic.

A heartrending account of trauma and abuse in Vietnam, with a really strong central thesis -- that the violation of themis, a fundamental sense of what is right in the world, is responsible for much of the psychological damage and trauma in veterans. However, the connections with the Iliad are often implausibly over-extended, and the author repeatedly cites the conclusions of isolated published articles as scientific truth.