In this ambitious follow-up to Achilles in Vietnam, Dr. Jonathan Shay uses the Odyssey, the story of a soldier's homecoming, to illuminate the pitfalls that trap many veterans on the road back to civilian life.

Seamlessly combining important psychological work and brilliant literary interpretation with an impassioned plea to renovate American military institutions, Shay deepens our understanding of both the combat veteran's experience and one of the world's greatest classics.

This "brilliant successor to the groundbreaking Achilles in Vietnam" (Richard Rhodes, author of "The Making of the Atomic Bomb") examines the problems faced by combat veterans reentering civilian society through a unique allegorical reading of Homer's "The Odyssey."

Lieutenant General Bernard E. Trainor USMC, retired, Marine Corps Gazette Groundbreaking work in understanding, preventing, and treating mental injuries....Leaders at all levels would profit from a journey with both Achilles and Odysseus. Homer and Jonathan Shay are excellent tour guides.