We are pleased to offer for review ‘Aftershock: The Untold Story of Surviving Peace‘ by Matthew Green (Portobello Books, 2015). Expressions of interest are welcome from across the medical humanities.
Over the last decade, we have sent thousands of people to fight on our behalf. But what happens when these soldiers come back home, having lost their friends and killed their enemies, having seen and done things that have no place in civilian life? In Aftershock, Matthew Green tells the story of our veterans’ journey from the frontline of combat to the reality of return.
Through wide-ranging interviews with former combatants – including a Royal Marine sniper and a veteran operator in the SAS – as well as serving personnel and their families, physicians, therapists and psychiatrists, Aftershock looks beyond the labels of shell shock and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to get to the heart of today’s post-conflict experience. It pursues the question that the military are so reluctant to ask: why do people who are trained to thrive within the theatre of war so often find themselves ill-prepared for peace?
As a new generation of battle-scarred troops begins to lay their weapons down, Aftershock offers an empathetic yet hard-hitting account of the hidden cost of conflict. And its message is one that has profound implications, not just for the military, but for anyone with an interest in how we experience trauma and survive.
If you would like to review ‘Aftershock‘ (no more than 1,000 words in length), then please consult our reviewer’s guidelines and email our reviews editor with a short explanation of why you are well placed to review the book.