"El Paso artist Tom Lea was commissioned by Life Magazine to paint the war as it was being experienced by U.S. and Allied soldiers, sailors, and airmen. Along with his sketchbook, Lea carried on these assignments his "record of work", a notebook in which he recorded observations and details on the images he hoped to create from the events he had seen." "Brendan M. Greeley, Jr. has collected virtually all of Tom Lea's firsthand accounts of his assignments for Life, along with his powerful sketches and unforgettable paintings, and placed them in context, along with photographs and research focusing on the people, places, and wartime events encountered by Tom Lea. Drawing on previously unpublished sources - the artist's diary, letters to the Texas historian J. Frank. Dobie, oral interviews, and archival materials from Texas and national collections - Greeley presents in The Two Thousand Yard Stare a uniquely comprehensive and sustained treatment of Lea's creative accomplishments during World War II." "This well-documented and astonishingly illustrated volume will fascinate those interested in the realistic depiction of war, in both images and words. Also a must-read for students, scholars, and collectors of the artist's work, The Two Thousand Yard Stare: Tom Lea's World War II is a brilliant compendium of the work and thought of one of America's most compelling painters and writers."--BOOK JACKET.

PTSD has been documented throughout history since man first began clubbing each other with rocks. Our understanding of this debilitation has only increased or become more visible in our digital age. In the past it was seen as a source of shame and embarrassment, not just for those suffering PTSD, but also their families and loved ones. The dark ages are gone we hope. We now strive to understand the effects of war on the minds of our men, women and families. Garry Willmott, in his book, has highlighted those who have suffered similar and often the very same symptoms documented throughout the centuries. Garry's mix of documented research and fact, combined with a somewhat personal narrative of each story and sufferer, provides us with a better eye-opening experience of PTSD. The reader can now put two and two together and begin to understand their own experiences of their grandfather, father, brother or sister, and how they returned from war, conflict or trauma as 'damaged goods'. Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of this project. Readers will not be disappointed. - Craig Roach, Gallipoli artist and avid historian, Gallipoli, Turkey. Money from book sales will be donated to the Webb family.

Japan and the United States became close political allies so quickly after the end of World War II, that it seemed as though the two countries had easily forgotten the war they had fought. Here Yoshikuni Igarashi offers a provocative look at how Japanese postwar society struggled to understand its war loss and the resulting national trauma, even as forces within the society sought to suppress these memories. Igarashi argues that Japan's nationhood survived the war's destruction in part through a popular culture that expressed memories of loss and devastation more readily than political discourse ever could. He shows how the desire to represent the past motivated Japan's cultural productions in the first twenty-five years of the postwar period. Japanese war experiences were often described through narrative devices that downplayed the war's disruptive effects on Japan's history. Rather than treat these narratives as obstacles to historical inquiry, Igarashi reads them along with counter-narratives that attempted to register the original impact of the war. He traces the tensions between remembering and forgetting by focusing on the body as the central site for Japan's production of the past. This approach leads to fascinating discussions of such diverse topics as the use of the atomic bomb, hygiene policies under the U.S. occupation, the monstrous body of Godzilla, the first Western professional wrestling matches in Japan, the transformation of Tokyo and the athletic body for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and the writer Yukio Mishima's dramatic suicide, while providing a fresh critical perspective on the war legacy of Japan.

Gerald Linderman has created a seamless and highly original social history, authoritatively recapturing the full experience of combat in World War II. Drawing on letters and diaries, memoirs and surveys, Linderman explores how ordinary frontline American soldiers prepared for battle, related to one another, conceived of the enemy, thought of home, and reacted to battle itself. He argues that the grim logic of protracted combat threatened soldiers not only with the loss of limbs and lives but with growing isolation from country and commanders and, ultimately, with psychological disintegration.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, many artists sought ways to contribute to the war effort. Here is a compelling collection of paintings, drawings and sketches that provide a stunning record of life in the trenches, on the front lines and behind the scenes.

A sniper in Haiti faces the repercussions of the shot he never took. A team of SEALs help rescue a kidnapped girl in the Philippines. Army interpreters in Iraq battle their toughest foe: the rats of Saddam’s palace. A soldier on a late-night run surprises a motorpool saboteur. A young cavalry lieutenant, fresh off the Battle of Kamdesh, meets the Marine half-brother he’s never known. A Navy ship reacts to an unexpected man overboard. And if you’ve ever wondered what Christmas was like in a war zone, you’re about to find out. True War Stories is a 260-page full color graphic novel anthology containing fifteen true tales of American service members overseas. Nearly every branch of the military is represented in this collection of stories that are heartwarming, heroic, harrowing, and even at times, hilarious, spanning the globe. This unique project, assembled by the multiple-Eisner nominated writer/editor, Alex de Campi and co-written/edited by Iraq War veteran Khai Krumbhaar is an entertaining and moving work of graphic nonfiction, pairing members of the US military with the biggest names in comics to share real war stories told by those who lived them. Artists include Peter Krause, Ryan Howe, Skylar Patridge (drawing her own father's Vietnam story), Eoin Marron, Tish Doolin (a former Army medic), Dave Acosta, A. D'Amico, Drew Moss, Josh Hood, PJ Holden, Chris Peterson, Sam Hart, Jeff McComsey, and Paul Williams. Colors are by Dee Cunniffe, Matt Soffe, Kelly Fitzpatrick, Tarsis Cruz, and Aladdin Collar. All lettering is done by de Campi herself.

Equal parts poetry collection and adult coloring book, The Million Mile Stare is the second collaboration between siblings, Dorian Paul Rogers and Gabrielle Fludd. The book's title is a reference to the thousand-yard stare, a war term related to the distant, and sometimes soulless, gaze of a shell-shocked soldier. Rogers' poetry gives voice to the childhood trauma he experienced growing up as a bi-racial child in East Cleveland, Ohio and Albany, Georgia. Fludd, a visual artist and illustrator, created accompanying artworks in black and white with intricate designs in order to allow readers to color and more deeply reflect on the written words. Rogers' and Fludd's collaboration gives unique perspectives on issues related to self-love, self-identity, race, education, colorism, and socio-economics. The Million Mile Stare aims to provide a sense of catharsis to readers as they explore the written words while creating new art of their own through coloring.