Home Front: The Government's War on Soldiers, Rick Anderson
Just into this! Wow! Will add coments directly.
WAR is a force that gives us meaning, Chris Hedges
Highly recomended reading!!! " I learned early on that war forms its own culture.
The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug...
It dominates culture, distorts memory,
corrupts language, and infects everything around it... War exposes the capacity
for evil that lurks not far below the surface within us all."
"The enduring attraction of war is this: Even with its destruction and carnage it can give us what
we long for in life. It can give us purpose, meaning, a reason for living." (pg.
3)
Regeneration, Pat Barker
When the highly decorated soldier and poet Sigfrid Sasson was injured and sent home to England to recover
during WWI, he issued a strong condemnation of the war to the press. The military dealt with this
embarrassment by sending him to a hospital for those suffering from shell-shock. This fictionalized
recounting of his time at that hospital is based on the notes of the noted Dr. Rivers, who treated
him there. A very thoughtful and wonderfully written book.
A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War, Susan Griffin
"This book is full of terrifying historical, scientific, and personal information beautifully written;
the narrative of scientific ambition that leads from love of the mysterious cell to nuclear war, the
painful effort of women and men to lead ordinary decent lives right in the middle of history, the secrecy
of both." From a review by author Grace Paley.
Trauma and Recovery, Judith Lewis Herman, MD
The author has had extensive experience counseling rape victims, battered women, and victims of childhood
abuse. Over time she developed a sense of the similarities of all kinds of trauma and began studying the
traumatic experiences of combat soldiers, holocaust survivors, and political prisoners also. This is a
detailed discussion of the psychological effects of trauma and the steps which facilitate recovery. It is
intended for the professional as well as the general public.
The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
The movie is not the book! This book is not a romance. It is a detailed exploration of the souls of four people
in the aftermath of war. Beautifully written, a pleasure to read, subtle and rewarding.
Recovering from the War, Patience H.C. Mason
Why the anger, why the rage, why the distance? Patience Mason draws on her own
experience as the wife of a Vietnam veteran and on hundreds of interviews with
other Vietnam veterans first to understand the experience that has had such
lasting, traumatic effects, and then to find ways to heal these hurts. While
very specific to the US war in Vietnam, a lot of the information is probably
relevant for most wars.http://www.patiencepress.com
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hannah
Arendt
This book is about far more than Eichmann's trial. It is a discussion of the
nature of evil; a discussion of the actions of all the nations involved when
presented with the civil face of evil; a discussion of the meaning of 'crimes
against humanity'; a discussion of the legal inadequacies of judicial procedures
when faced with a 'crime against humanity'; and much more. Given the events
in the Balkans, the recent use of biological/chemical weapons, and the resurgence
of violent fanaticism, it couldn't be more relevant now.
Ghosts of Manila, James Hamilton- Paterson
Fiction. A violent, disturbing portrait of present day Manila, but full of compassion, cognizant of the
hard kinds of choices the presence of violence may require us to make. Gripping, and well written.
The Country Between Us, Carolyn Forche
Poet Carolyn Forche spent time in El Salvador during the worst of its civil war. This book of poetry grew
out of that experience.
The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien
Fiction. This book is listed as fiction in the library, but the subject is not fiction. O'Brien writes about
war- specifically the US war in Vietnam, because that's where he was- but his goal is to enable the reader
to grasp something of the permanent nature of the horror of witnessing and participating in violent events.
Working Class War, Christian G. Appy
This book looks at who went to Vietnam, how they were prepared ( indoctrinated ) to kill, and how the psychological
experience differed depending on a soldier's origin as working class or middle class.
Chickenhawk, Robert Mason
Robert Mason draws a clear picture, both emotional and literal, of his experience
as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam.http://www.robertcmason.com
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, Lt.Col. Dave Grossman
The author documents at length just how difficult it is to get people to aim at and kill an individual, a fact we
in this society may consider surprising. The documentation is fascinating. He describes how the military successfully
overcomes that resistance, and discusses the price paid by those so trained. He makes recommendations for what is
necessary to lessen the destruction of self that often accompanies combat, and he discusses those things in our
society he feels also break down the resistance to killing in non-military people.
Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and The Undoing of Character, Jonathan Shay, M.D., PhD.
Jonathan Shay was one of the most important pioneers in treating PTSD in Vietnam war combat veterans. He still works
counseling veterans with severe, chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.
" 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.
"- Robert Olin Butler, Pulitzer Prize winning author.
The Sorrow of War; A Novel of North Vietnam, Bao Ninh
Written by a former North Vietnamese soldier, the book tells the story of the American war as it affected the soldiers,
the country, and the civilians who lived there. Americans soldiers of that war may find it difficult to begin this book.
Reading about a helicopter assault as experienced on the ground may raise disturbing memories. But in actuality, the
book talks surprising little about American actions. American Vietnam vets may feel instead a surprising amount of
connection with their former enemies, both during the war, and in the personal emotional aftermath. This book is
a huge best seller in Vietnam.
Rumors and Stones; A Journey, Wayne Karlin
Wayne Karlin is an American Jew who served in Vietnam. As a more mature adult, he learns the history of his mother's
birthplace, Kolno, Poland, whose entire Jewish population but one was murdered by Germans and Poles in 1941. He begins
to contemplate his own role as a soldier and his own army's acts, for instance at MyLai. The book relates his journey
to Kolno and his contemplation of this question.
Conscience at War: The Israeli Soldier as a Moral Critic, Ruth Linn
Not Shooting and Not Crying: Psychological Inquiry into Moral Disobedience, Ruth Linn
The contents of these books sound very specific to Israel, but the actual issues for soldiers, the dilemmas discussed,
are universal to certain kinds of conflicts. Many of the quotes by soldiers could be easily have been said by many
American Vietnam Veterans.
Not Shooting and Not Crying is an inquiry into the moral considerations of Israeli soldiers who refused to return
to Lebanon during the time Israel occupied part of Lebanon. Conscience at War is further considerations of the acts
of those refusers and those who refused to participate in the Intifada. The Israeli Army was conceived as a defense army
( Israeli Defense Force ) and has strong prohibitions against certain kinds of violence. ( Purity of Arms-" the
obligation to minimize both casualties to innocent victims and damage to property", even at the cost of death to
oneself or one's troops). War in the occupied territories involved being an occupying army and necessarily required
actions threatening to or contrary to those prohibitions. The book is concerned with the necessity of making decisions
when all possible actions are morally and emotionally difficult, and the cost of those dilemmas. The author is very
respectful of the soldiers' situation. The book is concerned with understanding and respecting, not dissecting.