Injured Men is an extremely rich casebook of clinical material pertaining to men who have sustained trauma. By means of his evocative and genuine writing, Brenner guides us through the world of men who have been affected by sexual abuse, unresolved grief, genocidal persecution, intergenerational transmission of trauma, and combat. His pluralistic approach to the long-term effects of trauma is conceptually astute and reverberates with his humane sensibility. -- Ilany Kogan, author of The Struggle Against Mourning With an eye on the complex interplay between developmental processes and the psychic detours resulting from trauma, Ira Brenner takes on the elusive topic of what it takes to be a man and how manliness is threatened, eclipsed, reclaimed, and expressed under ordinary and extraordinary circumstances. He deftly weaves a tapestry of ideas blending individual dynamics, large group psychology, phenomenology of dissociation, Holocaust studies, Vietnam War experiences, and the psychosocial aftermath of September 11th. The result is a book of rare intelligence, authenticity, and clinical wisdom. -- Salman Akhtar, MD, professor of psychiatry, Jefferson Medical College and Training and Supervising Analyst, Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia Before Ira Brenner, no other psychoanalytic investigator explored the severe early trauma leading to dissociative psychopathology as fully as it is described in this book. With lucid clinical illustrations, Injured Men: Trauma, Healing and the Masculine Self is destined to be a textbook for understanding and treating individuals who have been exposed to severe childhood traumas, are children of survivors, and have earlier traumas revived by more recent events. -- Vamik D. Volkan M.D., professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA and the author of Killing in the Name of Identity: Stories of Bloody Conflicts.
