An original and groundbreaking book that examines the psychological devastation of war by comparing the soldiers of Homer s Iliad with Vietnam veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.In this moving dazzlingly creative book 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. A classic of war literature that has as much relevance as ever in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan it is a \ transcendent literary adventure\ (The New York Times) and \ clearly one of the most original and most important scholarly works to have emerged from the Vietnam War\ (Tim O Brien author of The Things They Carried).