The number of books on the Vietnam War is, by now, vast and varied. Until recently, however, there has been very little for the public to read abou...
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Jan 22, 2011
Laura
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Jonathan Shay is a psychotherapist – and impressive amateur classicist – who has spent decades treating Vietnam veterans with severe PTSD. In this fascinating book, he analyzes what he sees as the moral breakdown of Achilles in terms of factors common to the Vietnam War. The first section of the book outlines these factors: a betrayal of “what’s right”; the shrinkage of the social and moral horizon; grief at the death of a special comrade; guilt and wrongful substitution; and going berserk (a cl
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Dec 07, 2009
Zeus_slayer101
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Achilles in Vietnam is a study of the impact of PTSD on the human personality, using The Iliad to illustrate the impact of this problem with emphasis on the reasons why Vietnam was more traumatic for many veterans than other conflicts have been. This was a good book to read along with The Iliad and helped me bring out some of the underlying themes throughout Homer’s text.
This book contained some very keen observations in it. You just have to fight through all of the boring psychology jar More...
This book contained some very keen observations in it. You just have to fight through all of the boring psychology jar More...
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Nov 24, 2008
Charlie
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Vietnam was the US combat mission that entirely crossed the line from war-run-as-military-campaign to war-run-as-incorporated-buisness-hierarchy. Those who organized the war tactics (not to mention the larger war stratgies) were too often out of touch with what was happening in the field. Shay spent decades of his life working as a psycholgist with combat trauma paitents who had served in Vietnam. His utilization of the ancient Greeks' war attitudes as a point of contrast to Vietnam attitudes i
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May 31, 2010
Kelly
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This book is strong antidotal medicine for those who are prone to generalize about what makes Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) a universal phenomenon among afflicted combat veterans, rather than a conflict-specific condition. The war in Vietnam, like all wars, was universal in this respect: the ways it destroyed lives were as unique as the lives it destroyed. Jonathan Shay explores these specifics by comparing them to the descriptions of combat trauma poetically rendered in Homer's epic o
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Nov 19, 2007
Dave
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This was a great book in conjunction with The Iliad. He compares PTSD symptoms in Viet Vets he counsels to descritions in The Iliad. Very intense depictions of modern PTSD copied verbatim from transcripts with the vets. One man describes leaving his house at night carrying a steak knife, walking down dark alleys hoping someone will threaten him. This is real.
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Dec 11, 2007
James
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A powerful study of the impact of PTSD on the human personality, using the Iliad and other classic literary portraits of traumatized warriors to illustrate the timelessness of this problem with special emphasis on the reasons that the Vietnam war was a more shattering experience for many veterans than other wars have been.
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Apr 07, 2011
Michael
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This book is a tour de force of psychological analysis and literary criticism. In it, Dr. Shay blends the Illiad with the heartbreaking words of veterans to develop a theory of post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is caused by a breakdown in themis, the internal sense of "what is right" that allows people to belong to an ordered society. Confronted by the betrayal of their superiors, the deception of the enemy, grief at the deaths of close friends, the privations of the battlefield,
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Sep 25, 2007
This author just won a McArthur grant. I'm very curious about this one in the context of narrative therapy for PTSD treatment.
Nov 07, 2011
Steve
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This is a really interesting and valuable book. The author is a classicist, who is very familiar with Homer's Iliad dealing with the Trojan wars, an a psychiatrist who has had extensive experience dealing with Vietnam veterans who suffer from chronic combat related ptsd, (as I do). It has been very difficult to work my way through the effects of my war experience on my psyche and as a result on my life. There have been many admissions to veterans' facilities and many hours of work with psycholog
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Aug 08, 2008
Beth
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I recently accepted a fellowship in the treatment of PTSD among combat veterans and decided to read Dr. Shay's book in preparation for this position. But first, I read The Illiad, upon which Shay bases his book (I recommend this before you read Achilles in Vietnam so that you can compare your take on the classic to Shay's). Basically, Shay is considering the traumas endured by Vietnam (and other combat) veterans within the context of Homer's classic. He effectively compares and contrasts the
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Nov 25, 2011
Stephanie
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A scholarly but sensitive analysis of combat trauma and what made Vietnam, specifically, so horrific for our troops. Very eye opening for me. It helped me to understand what our guys go through in war today as well, and I am really curious about this now because of my job. Not for the faint of heart, the book has some graphic stories from his patients that really put things in perspective. It's an amazing though difficult read. I put it down for a couple of weeks more than once.
Dec 21, 2010
Stephen
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Scholarly genius. A rock-solid read overlapping the Iliad with the Vietnam War and how, throughout history, combat soldiers have been dealt the burden of PTSD as a byproduct of war, beginning with his analysis of Homer's Achilles to which, Shay says, his lost of character after the death of Patroclus, is the ultimate tragedy of this most classic work. Although I would disagree on some points, the main emphases are sound, fascinating, and profoundly well done. Kudos to Shay for this great book.
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Dec 24, 2008
Mary
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More than any other, this book and its companion Odysseus in America helped me to fully understand not just what had happened to my son because of war but also why. Not why they went to war but why they had to change to survive it.
Written by veterans themselves and woven by Shay into the Iliad it is beautiful and poignant and heartbreaking. Everyone who loves a veteran or a soldier should read these books
Written by veterans themselves and woven by Shay into the Iliad it is beautiful and poignant and heartbreaking. Everyone who loves a veteran or a soldier should read these books
Jun 14, 2009
Eric
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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.
Jan 21, 2012
Mary Gail
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This is a moving, evocative and important book. Shay is a psychiatrist at the Boston VA where he has worked with Vietnam Vets for years. Using the Iliad as a metaphor for war, Shay passionately yet clinically portrays the ongoing impact of Vietnam on the soldiers we sent there.
Jan 22, 2011
Heidi
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This was another one of those required readings, for a course on writing, but the subject was Troy to Vietnam. The first time I had this Professor he showed us how not only did the men in Vietnam had PSTD but also that Achilles had suffered from it also. This book was great to read along with the Iliad, brings you to a new place in classic literature.
Jul 15, 2011
Mari
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It's half a treatise on the nature and treatment of PTSD and half literary analysis of The Illiad. And by-God, this weird little book pulls it off without the slightest hint of visible effort.
Oct 16, 2010
It is a good factual book that compares the traumas of war. Achilles in Vietnam gives a good comparison between Vietnam and Troy.
Jan 29, 2009
Suz
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This really deepened my understanding of both the Illiad as well as of PTSD and the experience of being a soldier.
Nov 24, 2009
Barbara
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I did my dissertation on PTSD in the Vietnam War, and this book continues to be the best written on the subject.
Jul 02, 2011
Ryan
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Achilles in Vietnam should be required reading for every responsible American citizen (and frankly, for all humans more generally). War is, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, an inescapable reality. But it comes at a price that cannot be measured in dollars.
Especially in this American age of a small, volunteer force (only 1% of American citizens currently serve in the armed forces) it is all the more critical that *every* citizen understand the price of war, and under More...
Especially in this American age of a small, volunteer force (only 1% of American citizens currently serve in the armed forces) it is all the more critical that *every* citizen understand the price of war, and under More...
Feb 12, 2012
Debi
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Powerful. Difficult.
This book is changing the way I look at Homer's Iliad.
This book is changing the way I look at Homer's Iliad.
Dec 06, 2009
Logan
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This book had some really interesting observations in it. You just have to wade through all of the dry psychology text and read very carefully with purpose to understand its message. A great analysis of the trauma of war though and the way in which Jonathan Shay can relate it back to the work of Homer in The Iliad is absolutely phenomenal. Overall this was a kind of boring book to read, definately not a book to read when you're trying to relax, but the information within it is incredibly thought
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Apr 01, 2008
Cloudcover
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Anyone who has been in or going to a combat zone needs to read this book. I read it before going to Iraq and saw the effects Dr. Shay wrote about. It was a little unnerving to see people you serve with develop PTSD. Dr. Shay has a long history with Vietnam Vetrans and in the light of recent events in Iraq and Afghanistan we need to remember the events which happened in Veitnam and try to correct the mistakes we made over there with soldier's pyschology.
Dec 07, 2009
Chris
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This book not only helped me to better understand PTSD, but also helped me to understand the Iliad. It was not as dry as would be expected from other psychology books. It did take a long time to read but that was because I had to reread sections to be sure I understood them. This was a great novel to read while studying the Iliad and helped me understand some things I have seen in my family members who have been to war.
Feb 24, 2010
Rebekah
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Out of this whole book, one sentence I found most useful. Paraphrased: "In order to be effective therapists, we need to listen to veterans' stories and allow ourselves to be changed by them." This idea is almost completely missing from my social work education. We learn to be empathetic, but to keep a wary eye out for "secondary trauma," to keep a read on just how disturbing we think a story is going to be.
Dec 06, 2009
Dipto
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I really enjoyed reading this book. It compared, and contrasted The Trojan War, and the Vietnam war. I liked reading about the similarities between the two. I liked how the author shows that even after thousands of years the human aspect of war has not changed at all. The same things that afflicted The Iliads troops, afflicted the troops in Vietnam. It is a real eye opening book. I would recommend it.
Dec 07, 2009
DionysusDippedInButtaSauce
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Achilles in Vietnam was a great book (but not the best). I'll admit it could get really dry at parts, but nonetheless was a very thought provoking book. Anyone interested in war, psychology, or people in general should take a look at the book. It's not too much of a "pleasure" book, but can definitely change the way you look at life and the world around you.
Feb 24, 2008
Kristen
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Fabulous book comparing post-traumatic stress disorder in Vietnam vets with accounts in Homer's Iliad. The premise and methodology were both interesting and I thought the book was quite well-written.
Ultimately I felt that the book reinforced the notion that war is extremely damaging to soldiers and civilians alike, regardless of which side "wins."
Ultimately I felt that the book reinforced the notion that war is extremely damaging to soldiers and civilians alike, regardless of which side "wins."
Aug 26, 2011
Russ
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Another book I didn't get a chance to finish, but just moving to my "read" shelf. I started reading this when working with a lot of Vietnam veterans and this really gets at the intense, psychological aspect of the war experience. I would recommend this highly to therapists working with veterans, coming face to face with the horrors of war.
