War and Moral Injury: A Reader

All royalties from the sale of this book are being donated to Warfighter Advance, http://www.warfighteradvance.org. Moral Injury has been called the "signature wound" of today's wars. It is also as old as the human record of war, as evidenced in the ancient war epics of Greece, India, and the Middle East. But what exactly is Moral Injury? What are its causes and consequences? What can we do to prevent or limit its occurrence among those we send to war? And, above all, what can we do to help heal afflicted warriors?

This landmark volume provides an invaluable resource for those looking for answers to these questions. Gathered here are some of the most far-ranging, authoritative, and accessible writings to date on the topic of Moral Injury. Contributors come from the fields of psychology, theology, philosophy, psychiatry, law, journalism, neuropsychiatry, classics, poetry, and, of course, the profession of arms. Their voices find common cause in informing the growing, international conversation on war and war's deepest and most enduring invisible wound. Few may want to have this myth-challenging, truth-telling conversation, but it is one we must have if we truly wish to help those we send to fight our wars.

Robert Emmet Meagher is Professor of Humanities in the School of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies at Hampshire College, Amherst, MA. With degrees from the University of Notre Dame (summa cum laude) and the University of Chicago, he joined the Hampshire faculty in 1972. Prior to that, he taught religious studies and theology at Indiana University and the University of Notre Dame. He has also held visiting chairs and professorships at numerous colleges and universities, including Trinity College Dublin and Yale University. His publications include over a dozen books, as well as numerous translations and original plays. His most recent books are Herakles Gone Mad: Rethinking Heroism in an Age of Endless War and Killing from the Inside Out: Moral Injury and Just War. He has offered workshops on the translation and contemporary production of ancient drama at colleges and universities here and abroad, and has himself directed productions at such venues as the Samuel Beckett Centre, Dublin and the Nandan Centre for the Performing Arts in Kolkota, India. In recent years he has directed and participated in a range of events and programs concerned with healing the spiritual wounds of war in veterans, their families, and their communities.

Douglas A. Pryer retired as a lieutenant colonel from the US Army military intelligence corps in August 2017, last serving on the Joint Staff as a Middle East political-military advisor. His military experience includes five years supporting combat operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo, and his essays and book, The Fight for the High Ground, explore warfare's moral and psychological dimensions. He is pursuing a PhD in International Politics at the University of Aberystwyth, Wales.