Afterwar: Healing the Moral Wounds of Our Soldiers
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"Nancy Sherman's superb Afterwar brilliantly explores the moral and philosophical complexities of homecomings for modern veterans, the largest reintegration of servicemembers back into society since Vietnam. This is an urgently necessary book--once a moving account of individual veterans' stories and a powerful examination of our collective obligations toward those who fought in our name." --Phil Klay, author of Redeployment
"Nancy Sherman writes about the souls of our soldiers and the wounds that are deeply hidden. Her writing stretches beyond the scholarly writing of war, ethics, and morality. She reaches down deep into the heart and emotion of young people who sign up to fight for their country and find that the fighting is much harder and more complex than they imagined. This is a must-read book for Americans at a time when our nation is bringing home our troops while preparing others for the next wave of conflicts." --Brigadier General (Ret) Stephen N. Xenakis, M.D., Adjunct Professor, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences
"Our returning troops are exposed to moral injury--a violation of deeply held beliefs about just behavior. This injury is more than PTSD. Drawing upon a unique and intimate knowledge of the combat soldier's emotional struggle and the language of classical philosophy, this extremely sensitive and compelling volume, Afterwar, enlightens and disturbs. We are reminded that our veterans are not only injured by exposure to brutal and tragic loss, but suffer by being alienated from their sense of order and honor. We, the civilians who send them to war and welcome them back, need to learn a new language if we are to truly embrace our home-coming combatants. We need to speak with them, not just of them. This book is essential reading for a nation bringing home troops after over a decade of war." --Frank M. Ochberg, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Michigan State University, former Associate Director of the National Institute of Mental Health
"Every combat veteran comes home in his or her way. Afterwar combines Nancy Sherman's brilliant insights as a scholar with her perceptive ear and storyteller's gift for prose, producing a rich tapestry of experiences from many veterans of our post-9/11 deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other theaters of war. We often cloak combat service in heroic narrative, both to recognize the extraordinary acts performed therein and encourage others to step forward into the breach when their time comes. Prof. Sherman moves beyond this heroic narrative to help us understand how veterans experience the extraordinary experience of war, and move on from it when they return to civilian society." --Phillip Carter, Iraq veteran and director of the veterans research program at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, DC
"Nancy Sherman is a philosopher who talks to soldiers and, what is more important, listens to soldiers--in this case soldiers returning from our recent wars. Her book is a powerful account of what she heard and a plea to all her readers to join in the work of listening, so that coming back for these soldiers is also coming home." --Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, and author of Just and Unjust Wars
"A piercing course in sensitivity training to build a moral community upon re-entry into society." --Kirkus Review
"Sherman's book is critically important at this time for our nation." -Christian Century
"Nancy Sherman's book Afterwar makes an important contribution to what it means for a nation to go to war in the twenty-first century. It emphasizes soldiers' struggles to reintegrate into society after returning from war and provides clear messages to multiple audiences in the critical areas of individual and collective responsibility, civil-military relations, and leadership. The book also has important lessons for individual soldiers, the public they serve, and the commanders and supervisors who have the best opportunity--and the greatest responsibility--to ensure the moral wounds associated with warfare are given the opportunity to heal." -- Parameters
"Nancy Sherman's superb Afterwar brilliantly explores the moral and philosophical complexities of homecomings for modern veterans, the largest reintegration of servicemembers back into society since Vietnam. This is an urgently necessary book--once a moving account of individual veterans' stories and a powerful examination of our collective obligations toward those who fought in our name." --Phil Klay, author of Redeployment
"Nancy Sherman writes about the souls of our soldiers and the wounds that are deeply hidden. Her writing stretches beyond the scholarly writing of war, ethics, and morality. She reaches down deep into the heart and emotion of young people who sign up to fight for their country and find that the fighting is much harder and more complex than they imagined. This is a must-read book for Americans at a time when our nation is bringing home our troops while preparing others for the next wave of conflicts." --Brigadier General (Ret) Stephen N. Xenakis, M.D., Adjunct Professor, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences
"Our returning troops are exposed to moral injury--a violation of deeply held beliefs about just behavior. This injury is more than PTSD. Drawing upon a unique and intimate knowledge of the combat soldier's emotional struggle and the language of classical philosophy, this extremely sensitive and compelling volume, Afterwar, enlightens and disturbs. We are reminded that our veterans are not only injured by exposure to brutal and tragic loss, but suffer by being alienated from their sense of order and honor. We, the civilians who send them to war and welcome them back, need to learn a new language if we are to truly embrace our home-coming combatants. We need to speak with them, not just of them. This book is essential reading for a nation bringing home troops after over a decade of war." --Frank M. Ochberg, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Michigan State University, former Associate Director of the National Institute of Mental Health
"Every combat veteran comes home in his or her way. Afterwar combines Nancy Sherman's brilliant insights as a scholar with her perceptive ear and storyteller's gift for prose, producing a rich tapestry of experiences from many veterans of our post-9/11 deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other theaters of war. We often cloak combat service in heroic narrative, both to recognize the extraordinary acts performed therein and encourage others to step forward into the breach when their time comes. Prof. Sherman moves beyond this heroic narrative to help us understand how veterans experience the extraordinary experience of war, and move on from it when they return to civilian society." --Phillip Carter, Iraq veteran and director of the veterans research program at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, DC
"Nancy Sherman is a philosopher who talks to soldiers and, what is more important, listens to soldiers--in this case soldiers returning from our recent wars. Her book is a powerful account of what she heard and a plea to all her readers to join in the work of listening, so that coming back for these soldiers is also coming home." --Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, and author of Just and Unjust Wars
"A piercing course in sensitivity training to build a moral community upon re-entry into society." --Kirkus Review
"Sherman's book is critically important at this time for our nation." -Christian Century
"Nancy Sherman's book Afterwar makes an important contribution to what it means for a nation to go to war in the twenty-first century. It emphasizes soldiers' struggles to reintegrate into society after returning from war and provides clear messages to multiple audiences in the critical areas of individual and collective responsibility, civil-military relations, and leadership. The book also has important lessons for individual soldiers, the public they serve, and the commanders and supervisors who have the best opportunity--and the greatest responsibility--to ensure the moral wounds associated with warfare are given the opportunity to heal." -- Parameters
"Sherman draws on countless interviews and conversations she conducted with service members over many years. But she concentrates on the experiences of nine particular men and women, one pseudonymous, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and came home scathed. She is an excellent storyteller. Afterwar is a call to action, urging readers to assist in healing moral injuries incurred during wartime military service...a timely and salutary study of war-borne moral injuries." -- Michigan War Studies Review
