About
In Odysseus & the Oar: Healing After War and Military Service, Iraq War veteran and psychotherapist, Adam Magers, explores The Odyssey and its meaning for modern veterans who are navigating life after war and military service. Along the way, he uncovers an archetypal pattern that he calls “the archetype of the warrior’s return.” Magers shows that the symbolism found in The Odyssey is mirrored by other ancient myths around the world, from the Greek, Navajo, Celtic, and Nordic traditions—and can be found in the dreams of modern veterans. Grounding interpretations of this symbolic imagery in Jungian psychological theory, Magers helps veterans and those who support them understand how The Odyssey can be understood as a map to veterans’ healing and transformation process after war and military service. In the end, we are left with a broader understanding of veterans’ challenges, and what we can do about them.
Karl Marlantes
USMC VIETNAM VETERAN AND BEST SELLING AUTHOR OF MATTERHORN AND WHAT IT IS LIKE TO GO TO WAR
“I urge all veterans struggling with the wounds of military service, and all those trying to help them, to read this wise and profound book. I wish Adam Magers could be every veteran’s therapist and every therapist’s supervisor. Since that’s impossible, this book offers the next best thing: a roadmap to help guide our veterans home.”
Dr. Murray Stein
SENIOR JUNGIAN PSYCHOANALYST
AUTHOR OF "JUNG'S MAP OF THE SOUL"
“This heartfelt book by Adam Magers offers more than tepid sympathy to veterans of foreign wars coming home with PTSD. It lays out a vision for a future life of meaning and purpose. Odysseus comes home with a mission given in his descent into the Underworld. The light that shines in the darkness guides the way forward.”
Chris Mendoza
FORMER US ARMY DRILL SERGEANT TURNED INFANTRY OFFICER, COMBAT VET, & PSYCHOLOGIST IN TRAINING
“Adam’s book provides inspiration for veterans suffering from PTSD, as he shines a light on the shadows of the human psyche while exploring the long ‘journey home’ after war and military service. This is a must-read for any veteran seeking a deeper understanding of the wounds that still exist after returning from war.”
Dr. James Hollis
SENIOR JUNGIAN PSYCHOANALYST AND AUTHOR
“Adam Magers’s Odysseus & the Oar convincingly asserts that the deepest wounds are to the soul, one’s core sense of self and relation to others. Part of the brilliance of this book is seeing how this problem is not new, but was intuitively embodied in the work of The Odyssey, the story of a warrior trying to come home to daily life. In exploring these archetypal parallels, Magers provides profound insights, both archetypal and personal, toward the reintegration of a shattered psyche which must transpire before the warrior can finally leave combat and come home.”
Maxine Hong Kingston
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE WOMAN WARRIOR AND THE BOOK VETERANS OF WAR, VETERANS OF PEACE
“In Odysseus and the Oar, Adam offers veterans a map for the journey home, interpreting Homer, Jung, and his own experiences with dreams, symptoms, mindfulness, and art to show how we can make use of every wound to reconnect with Self and Soul. I highly recommend Adam’s creative reading of the Odyssey and his effective work with veterans.”
Stacy Bare
FORMER US INFANTRY OFFICER, COMBAT VET, CO-FOUNDER OF VETERANS EXPEDITIONS, AND 2014 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ADVENTURER OF THE YEAR
“Adam’s exploration of Homer’s Odyssey through the lens of Jungian psychology helped me reframe my own 13-year journey home, and to ask, and answer, questions I needed to examine to better understand my life since leaving the military. If the point of therapy isn’t just about feeling better, but really to help understand how to better feel—this book is therapy.”
Dr. Thomas Palaima
PROFESSOR OF CLASSICS, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN WITH EXPERTISE IN AEGEAN SCRIPTS, AND WAR AND VIOLENCE IN ANCIENT GREECE
“In this profound book, Magers de-demonizes what all returning soldiers go through. He gives his readers, both veterans and those who love and respect them, a way of accepting with heartfelt honesty what veterans are going through. He also gives them confidence that they can and will rebalance their very souls, something soldiers have had to do long before they came back from the plains of Troy.”
Dr. Frank Manley
SENIOR JUNGIAN PSYCHOANALYST
“In Odysseus & the Oar, Adam Magers has proven himself to be a master of classical Jungian thought. In fact, this work could be used by candidates becoming Jungian analysts as important supplemental reading to prepare for theoretical exams. Adam shows a real mastery of mythology, and he uses its metaphors to move toward psychological breakthroughs for people suffering from combat trauma of various sorts. More works like this are needed to show the value of depth psychology in the world of practical problems.”
Dr. Joseph Bobrow
PSYCHOANALYST, ZEN MASTER, FOUNDER OF VETERANS COMING HOME, AND AUTHOR OF WAKING UP FROM WAR
“Adam Magers digs deep to harvest all he has learned from his long journey through the traumas of war and beyond, and offers the fruits to all war veterans, that they may heal, transform, and discover the gifts they have to share with the world.”