Why read War and the Soul?

Book cover of War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation's Veterans from Post-Tramatic Stress Disorder

Book description

War and PTSD are on the public's mind as news stories regularly describe insurgency attacks in Iraq and paint grim portraits of the lives of returning soldiers afflicted with PTSD. These vets have recurrent nightmares and problems with intimacy, can’t sustain jobs or relationships, and won’t leave home, imagining “the…

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Why read it?

1 author picked War and the Soul as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Ryan Smithson

Author

As a young psychologist during the Vietnam War, Edward Tick served his country not by enlisting himself but through tireless efforts to help those who returned from war traumatized. This was the first book that helped me understand that posttraumatic stress is not just some “disorder” that I’d suffer from forever. Rather, it is simply the human mind’s normal—probably unavoidable—response to combat, and, Tick argues, there is also such a thing as posttraumatic growth. He examines how ancient and modern societies train their warrior classes, noting that the ritualistic civilian-to-soldier process (we’d call it “boot camp” or “basic training”)…

From Ryan's list on The best war books about turning PTSD into post-traumatic growth.