A fascinating examination of the PTSD that affected the efforts of Homer's Odysseus to return home from the 10-year-long Trojan War, seen through the eyes of veterans of modern American conflicts (Vietnam, Gulf War I). Shay's account focuses on the contributions that feelings of abandonment and betrayal by trusted superiors and comrades make to the generation of PTSD in any specific person. ( )

In a world where Abu Ghraib, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Guantanamo
Bay are on the nightly news and where the U.S presidential race
focused largely on the military records of the two candidates, Dr.
Jonathan Shay's most recent book seems extremely timely. He uses the
Odyssey to shed light on the challenges that soldiers face when
returning to civilian society, and, in turn, he uses the experiences
of Vietnam veterans to shed light on Homer's epic. He artfully melds
literary criticism with social commentary, memoir with medical
analysis, and he criticizes the effects of war in our society without
dehumanizing the soldiers who take part in it. -Emily