Home from the War: Learning from Vietnam Veterans [Paperback]

Robert Jay Lifton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1992 | ISBN-10: 0807055050 | ISBN-13: 978-0807055052

In Home from the War, the award-winning author and noted psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton offers a powerful critique of American militarism during the Vietnam War. Recognized as the ultimate text for those working with Vietnam veterans, the book's insights have had enormous influence among psychologists and psychiatrists all over the world.

Lifton's new preface connects the experience of Vietnam veterans with that of veterans of the war in Iraq. Both were brought into the 'atrocity producing situations' that led to My Lai and Abu Ghraib. Lifton raises the possibility that Iraq veterans could experience the kind of healing transformation that many who fought in Vietnam were able to achieve.

"Home from the War is a work of major importance, integrating approaches derived from behavioral and social sciences, medicine, history and, above all, based upon a profound respect for humanity."
-G.F. Solomon, M.D., New England Journal of Medicine

"In a terrible way, Home from the War is about us all, whether we went to Vietnam or not. Read it carefully and if you cannot be moved by it or learn from it then you are probably dead."
-Gloria Emerson, author of Winners and Losers: Battles, Retreats, Gains, Losses, and Ruins from the Vietnam War

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

G.F. Solomon, M.D., New England Journal of Medicine

"Home from the War is a work of major importance, integrating approaches derived from behavioral and social sciences, medicine, history and, above all, based upon a profound respect for humanity."


Gloria Emerson, author of Winners and Losers: Battles, Retreats, Gains, Losses, and Ruins from the Vietnam War

"In a terrible way, Home from the War is about us all, whether we went to Vietnam or not. Read it carefully and if you cannot be moved by it or learn from it then you are probably dead." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Robert Jay Lifton

Robert Jay Lifton is the author of The Nazi Doctors, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima, which won the National Book Award; Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism; and most recently, Superpower Syndrome: Americaís Apocalyptic Confrontation with the World. He teaches at Harvard Medical School and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 492 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Pr (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807055050
• ISBN-13: 978-0807055052
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,443,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Defining Work, February 11, 2012

By 

Stephen Woods (Vientiane, Capital, LA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Home from the War: Learning From Vietnam Veterans (Paperback)

Not only is this book fascinating and terribly revealing it is the defining work on the impact that the Vietnam war has had in this world. The approach taken explains so much that has always been a mystery to me. I knew it all had real weight and I could see the impact it all had had in my life, the lives of those I love and upon the soul of my nation, but I never really understood why. This book provides the why. The exposure of the My Lai massacre for what it was is the only account that has ever made sense to me and the same applies to so much of what else this book explores. It should be prescribed reading in every school and university in the country; for all health professionals dealing with veterans and for anyone who dons the uniform.

3 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A good book gone bad, September 12, 2009

By 

Robert M. Lindberg - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Home from the War: Learning From Vietnam Veterans (Paperback)

I've recently gone to work for a hospital that has a unit that treats vets who have Post Traumatic Stress. I had read this book several years ago and remembered it as being a good source for information. So I orderd it, but found that in the introduction, Mr. Lifton had turned it into a political diatribe against the war in Iraq. He kept on calling John Kerry a hero for his 90 days of service in Viet Nam. It got so crazy, that I sent the book back. There are other resources like Odysseus in America, by John Shay, that are much better resouces.