In the early 1970s, Penny Coleman married Daniel, a young Vietnam veteran and fellow photographer. Soon, Daniel became deeply troubled, falling victim to multiple addictions and becoming strangely insecure. He suffered from what we now call posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After Coleman left him, he committed suicide.

Struggling to understand Daniels experience, Coleman began investigating the history of PTSD; she found clear cases of the disorder as far back as the Civil War. In Flashback, Coleman deftly weaves psychology and military, political, oral, and cultural history to trace the experience of PTSD in the military up through the Vietnam War. She then focuses on Vietnam to show why this war in particular led to such a high number of PTSD cases, many of which ended tragically in suicide. Like the soldiers listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall, these men are casualties of war.

With record numbers of American soldiers returning from the Middle East already suffering from PTSD, Flashback provides a necessary lesson on the real tragedy of battle for soldiers and their families, something that continues long after the war ends.

Penny Coleman, the author of Village Elders, teaches photography and photojournalism at the International Center for Photography and at New Jersey City University. She lives with her partner in New York City.

"A well-researched and well-documented publication with a uniquely human touch."

"A tautly argued study . . . Gathering stark testimonies from other similarly bereaved wives, mothers and daughters, Coleman chillingly reveals the hidden cost of war. Further, with force and conviction, she shows how the U.S. military has systematically denied and cynically managed the psychic impact of war on it soldiers . . . [Flashback] will surely generate further attention to a sadly timely subject."

A powerful, beautifully written, timely reminder of the continuing horror of postwar life for many soldiers returning from combat

With the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, once again America’s men and women who have seen war close-up are suddenly expected to return seamlessly to civilian life. In Flashback,Penny Coleman tells the cautionary and timely story of posttraumatic stress disorder in the hope that we can sensitively assist those veterans who return from combat in need of help, and the families struggling to support them.

“A remarkable combination of painful experience and thoughtful interpretation. Coleman concludes with a moving plea that ‘we accept the truth that war itself is an illness that sickens our society as surely and in much the same way as it sickens our citizens and our soldiers.’ Few authors have done more to confront that sickness as a step toward cure.” —Dr. Robert Jay Lifton, author of Home from the War

Penny Coleman, the author of Village Elders, lives with her family in New York City.

Penny Coleman, the author of Village Elders, lives with her family in New York City.