Simon & Schuster, 1973
Other Press, 2005
Nominated for a National Book Award
“Brilliant . . . required reading for all concerned people.”
—Chicago Tribune
Home from the War: Learning from Vietnam Veterans
With a New Preface by the Author on the War in Iraq
In “Home from the War,” the award-winning author and noted psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton offers a powerful critique of American militarism during the Vietnam War. Recognized as the ultimate text for those working with Vietnam veterans, the book’s insights have had enormous influence among psychologists and psychiatrists all over the world.
Lifton’s new preface connects the experience of Vietnam veterans with that of veterans of the war in Iraq. Both were brought into the ‘atrocity producing situations’ that led to My Lai and Abu Ghraib. Lifton raises the possibility that Iraq veterans could experience the kind of healing transformation that many who fought in Vietnam were able to achieve.
Praise
“In a terrible way, Home from the War is about us all, whether we went to Vietnam or not. Read it carefully and if you cannot be moved by it or learn from it then you are probably dead.”
—Gloria Emerson, author of Winners and Losers: Battles, Retreats, Gains, Losses, and Ruins from the Vietnam War
“Home from the War” is a work of major importance, integrating approaches derived from behavioral and social sciences, medicine, history and, above all, based upon a profound respect for humanity.”
—G.F. Solomon, M.D., New England Journal of Medicine
News and Reviews
Newsweek
“Skillful and compassionate.”
Robert Jay Lifton 