Odysseus in America

by Jonathan Shay; Senator John McCain; Senator Max Cleland

• ISBN13: 9780743211567
• ISBN10: 0743211561
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-11-05
• Publisher: Scribner

Summary

In his acclaimed book Achilles in Vietnam, Dr. Jonathan Shay used the Iliad as a prism through which to examine how ancient and modern wars have battered the psychology of the men who fight. Now he turns his attention to the Odyssey, Homer's classic story of a soldier's homecoming, to illuminate the real problems faced by combat veterans reentering civilian society. Drawing on his years of experience working with Vietnam veterans, Shay illustrates how the Odyssey can be read as a metaphor for the pitfalls that trap many veterans on the road back to civilian life. He also explains how veterans recover, and advocates changes to American military practice that will protect future servicemen and servicewomen while increasing their fighting power. The Odyssey, Shay argues, offers explicit portrayals of behavior common among returning soldiers in our own culture -- danger-seeking, womanizing, explosive violence, drug abuse, visitation by the dead, obsession, vagrancy, and homelessness. Supporting his reading with examples from his fifteen-year practice treating Vietnam combat veterans, Shay shows how Odysseus's mistrustfulness, his lies, and his constant need to conceal his thoughts and emotions foreshadow the experiences of many of today's veterans. Throughout, Homer strengthens our understanding of what a combat veteran must overcome to return to and flourish in civilian life, just as the heartbreaking stories of the veterans Shay treats give us a new understanding of one of the world's greatest classics. With a foreword by Vietnam veteran U.S. Senators John McCain and Max Cleland, representing bipartisan support for what Dr. Shay is trying to accomplish, Odysseus in America is an impassioned and cogent plea to renovate American military institutions -- and a brilliant rereading of Homer's epic.

Author Biography

Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D., is a staff psychiatrist in the Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic in Boston. His patients are Vietnam combat veterans with severe, chronic post-traumatic stress disorder. Visiting-scholar-at-large at the U.S. Naval War College in 2001, Dr. Shay speaks frequently at the invitation of U.S. military services, universities, and colleges. He lives in the Boston area.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
Preface	xv
Introduction	1	(10)
PART I Unhealed Wounds
Odysseus Among the Rich Civilians	11	(8)
Pirate Raid: Staying in Combat Mode	19	(16)
Lotus Land: The Flight from Pain	35	(7)
Cyclops: The Flight from Boredom	42	(9)
``Lawless Brutes''	43	(3)
Cunning	46	(1)
``And Know Not Me''---Loss of Identity and Boasting	47	(4)
Odysseus Gets a Leg Up---and Falls on His Face: The Workplace	51	(9)
A Peaceful Harbor: No Safe Place	60	(5)
Witches, Goddesses, Queens, Wives---Dangerous Women	65	(11)
Among the Dead: Memory and Guilt	76	(10)
The Dead (Try To) Reproach The Living	76	(3)
``I Won't Forget a Thing''---Keeping Faith	79	(3)
Timmy	81	(1)
Anyone Close Will Be Harmed	82	(2)
Irretrievable Losses	84	(2)
What Was the Sirens' Song?: Truth As Deadly Addiction	86	(10)
The Language of Times That Make a World	89	(2)
Memory Unconnected to Community	91	(1)
Total Certainty is Just as Damaging	92	(4)
Scylla and Charybdis: Dangers Up, Down, and Sideways	96	(4)
The Sun God's Beef: The Blame Game	100	(7)
Why Odysseus' Adventures are an Ironic Allegory	103	(4)
Above the Whirlpool	107	(6)
Guilt and Good Character	109	(4)
Calypso: Odysseus the Sexaholic	113	(7)
Odysseus at Home	120	(29)
Lies, Tests, Disguises	121	(13)
Slaughter of the Infamous Suitors	134	(3)
Coldness and Cruelty to Nearest and Dearest	137	(3)
Trauma and Odysseus' Character	140	(4)
He Leaves---Again!	144	(5)
PART II Restoration
Introduction	149	(15)
Aversion to Returning Veterans is an Old Story	152	(4)
Damage to Character---Injured Thumos	156	(6)
Aristotle Again---Human is Politikon Zoon	162	(2)
From the Clinic to the Wall	164	(16)
Stages of Recovery	168	(1)
A Trip to the Wall with VIP	169	(11)
Lew Puller Ain't on the Wall	180	(25)
PART III Prevention
Introduction	205	(3)
Preventing Psychological and Moral Injury in Military Service	208	(23)
Cohesion---The Human Element in Combat	208	(2)
Why Does Cohesion Matter?	210	(10)
Cohesion, from the Point of View of Ethics...	220	(1)
Unit Associations---A Neglected Resource	221	(1)
Training	222	(1)
Training, from the Point of View of Ethics...	223	(2)
Leadership	225	(2)
Leadership, from the Point of View of Ethics...	227	(4)
Odysseus As a Military Leader	231	(11)
The Trojan Horse	233	(3)
Summary of The Charges Against Captain Odysseus	236	(1)
Achilles, Odysseus, and Agamemnon	237	(5)
Conclusion	242	(13)
The Circles of Communalization of Trauma	243	(1)
Purification After Battle	244	(1)
What Does It Mean to ``Be Home''?	245	(1)
Trauma Studies and Other Fields of Knowledge	246	(3)
A New Abolitionism	249	(4)
September 11, 2001	253	(2)
Appendix I: A Pocket Guide to Homer's Odyssey	255	(6)
Part One (Books 1--4): A Home without Husband or Father	255	(1)
Part Two (Books 5--8): Odysseus Starts The Last Lap for Home	256	(1)
Part Three (Books 9--12): Odysseus Tells His Adventures in Wonderland	256	(1)
Part Four (Books 13--16): Father and Son Return to Ithaca and are Reunited	257	(1)
Part Five: (Books 17--20): Stranger at Home	258	(1)
Part Six (Books 21--24): Veteran Triumphant	258	(3)
Appendix II: Information Resources for Vietnam Veterans and Their Families	261	(2)
Appendix III: Some Proposals	263	(4)
Obsolete Assumptions Built into The Current Military Personnel System	263	(2)
Some Specific Recommendations	265	(1)
How We Get There from Here	266	(1)
Notes	267	(36)
Bibliography	303	(10)
Index	313