Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character [Paperback]

Jonathan Shay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1995

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Shay works from an intriguing premise: that the study of the great Homeric epic of war, The Iliad, can illuminate our understanding of Vietnam, and vice versa. Along the way, he compares the battlefield experiences of men like Agamemnon and Patroclus with those of frontline grunts, analyzes the berserker rage that overcame Achilles and so many American soldiers alike, and considers the ways in which societies ancient and modern have accounted for and dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder---a malady only recently recognized in the medical literature, but well attested in Homer's pages. The novelist Tim O'Brien, who has written so affectingly about his experiences in combat, calls Shay's book "one of the most original and most important scholarly works to have emerged from the Vietnam war." He's right.

From 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.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 246 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (October 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684813211
• ISBN-13: 978-0684813219
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,737 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Commonality of the Combat Soldier, December 30, 1998

By 

Steve Banko, [e-mail] (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character (Paperback)

As a Vietnam combat veteran, I was imbued with the belief that my war was "special," a unique experience in the world's military history. In reading Dr. Shay's book, I had to re-think that thesis and am now struck with the obvious conclusion that all combat, be it with Alexander the Great or Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf, inflicts psychological damage that can last a lifetime. Only geography changes.

Realizing that and reading the vast parallels between The Iliad and Vietnam PTSD symptomology, I was able to understand my own emotional scars and through that self-realization, truly begin to heal those scars. I referred my therapist to the book and she told me it offered her more insight into the cause and treatment of PTSD among Vietnam veterans than any of the seminars or textbooks she'd ever encountered. This is a must read for Vietnam vets and those who care about them.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We are not alone., June 26, 2005

By 

A. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character (Paperback)

As a Marine recently returned from his second combat tour in Iraq, I have found this book to be immensely helpful in understanding the changes that have taken place in my life as a result of traumatic experience. While the vietnam war may be 30 years gone, the lessons of those who have experienced war first hand are as timeless and relevant today as they ever were.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Odysseus cried..., July 16, 2004

By 

Douglas Todd "Poet" (Warm Springs, AR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character (Paperback)

In "Healing and Tragedy" (Chapter 11) Shay says that "Healing is done by survivors, not to survivors" and he is right. He also speaks of the healing power of narrative and says, "The ancient Greeks revered Homer, the singer of tales, as a doctor of the soul. In the Odyssey, Homer paints a (self-)portrait of the epic singer whose healing art is to tell the stories of Troy with the truth that causes the old soldier, Odysseus, to weep and weep again. (Odyssey 8:78ff)"

Something like that seems to happen to Combat Veterans when they read this book. Shay is neither the bard telling the story nor the warrior who lived it, but he takes the stories of those who were there and presents them in such a way that, reading them, "the old soldier weeps and weeps again...".

The truth is here. Another reviewer has viewed some of the stories with a measure of skepticism -- and there are some "red flags" in some of the stories -- but that is the nature of "War Stories" and those who know what "the facts on the ground" were can see therough all that to the essential truth that Shay so eloquently presents.

I bought this book because it was recommended to me by readers of my own book, "Aftermath: A Song For Tyrone..." and I am glad I did! I wish I had read it years ago!

If you are a Veteran -- or if there is a veteran who means a lot to you -- or if you just want to understand more about war and what it does to the soldier and to those who love him and to society in general -- buy this book! Buy it -- read it -- give it as a gift!