For those interested in learning more about post-traumatic stress disorder, I would suggest Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character by Jonathan Shay, MD, in which he compares the soldiers of Homer’s Iliad with the Vietnam veterans he counseled for PTSD. In addition to reading medical texts, I read a number of autobiographies, and one of the most riveting is My Private War: Liberated Body, Captive Mind: A World War II POW’s Journey by Norman Bussel. What I found so haunting was that he still had nightmares about his POW experience forty years after regaining his freedom. Combat Trauma: A Personal Look at Long-term Consequences by James D. Johnson entwines the stories of sixteen combat veterans with a discussion of what we now know about PTSD and how it manifests itself in those exposed to traumatic events. Thankfully, there are more resources available today for soldiers returning from tours of duty on distant battlefields, although still not enough, not nearly enough. If we are going to send men and women off to fight for us, we owe them more than parades or applause in airports, which are nice gestures, but no substitute for more comprehensive medical care or better VA services or aid to military families.
Lastly, for books about medieval warfare, I highly recommend By Sword and Fire: Cruelty and Atrocity in Medieval Warfare by Sean McGlynn; Noble Ideals and Bloody Realities: Warfare in the Middle Ages edited by Niall Christie and May Yazigi; Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades, 1000–1300 by John France; War and Chivalry: The Conduct and Perception of War in England and Normandy, 1066–1217 by Matthew Strickland; Hostages in the Middle Ages by Adam J. Kosto; and Encounters Between Enemies: Captivity and Ransom in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem by Yvonne Friedman.
In the Lionheart acknowledgments, I expressed the hope that I’d soon be able to post a more extensive bibliography on my website. Unfortunately, that still has not happened. While the spirit is willing, time is as elusive as the unicorn. But, ever the optimist, I keep hoping that it will eventually come to pass. In the meantime, readers can feel free to ask me for recommendations or even for explanations as to why I may have omitted a familiar author, a well-known history. I can be reached via my website, www.sharonkaypenman.com, or at [email protected], or at P.O. Box 1134, Mays Landing, NJ 08330—with the caveat that patience may be required. With the best of intentions, I once offered to provide blog commentary about the Angevins to readers without access to the Internet, and found myself overwhelmed with so many requests that I was unable to respond to them all, much to my dismay. So I have learned to set more realistic goals, always bearing in mind that unlike my medieval kings and queens, I have no scribes on call.