Helping Vets: A Selected History

by Charles Figley

As I become a more senior scholar I am far more interested in history, including the history of helping veterans. From this page I plan today (June 16, 2006) to begin to comment on the history I lived. My book on the history of trauma scholarship was just published this year: Figley, C. R. (Ed.) (2006). Mapping the Wake of Trauma: Autobiographical Essays by the Pioneers of Trauma Research. In the Psychosocial Stress Book Series. NY: Routledge.

In this book I write a chapter about my own experiences: Figley, C. R. (2005). From Veterans of War to Veterans of Terrorism: My Maps of Trauma . In C. R. Figley (Ed.). In Mapping Trauma and its Wake: Autobiographic Essays by Pioneer Trauma Scholars. NY: Routledge.  Before that I contributed to the first issue of the Journal of Trauma Practice with first of two article: Figley, C. R. (2002). Origins of Traumatology and Prospects for the Future, Part I. Journal of Trauma Practice, 1:1, pp. 17-32.

One of the most important books about the history of the Vietnam war veteran movement is Gerald Nicosia's 690-page, heavily research book, Home to War: A History of the Vietnam Veterans' Movement. I am especially interested in it

because I am cast as a "conservative." Yet, he notes that I was offered the top job at the Veterans Administration for helping war veterans: Head of the new $50 million-dollar readjustment counseling program, which I turned down with little thought. It was a good decision since the psychologist who was selected, Don Crawford, had a very challenging job--politically and organizationally.

[to be continued]