War Torn: Stories of Courage, Love, and Resilience

With some 200 million people affected by armed conflict or genocide, refugees are appearing in record numbers. War Torn takes us beyond the headlines into the lives of civilians caught up in war's destructive power in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Guatemala, and Sri Lanka. Alongside stories that convey the destruction and heartbreak of armed conflict, Ken Miller captures the courage and resilience he calls a remarkable kind of light," an essential counterpoint to the grief and trauma that war creates. The stories in War Torn are powerful, heart-wrenching, and unforgettable. Drawing on his extensive research and clinical experience, Miller also offers a nuanced critique of the overly narrow focus on PTSD among survivors of armed conflict.

About the Author :
An international expert on the impact of armed conflict on civilians, psychologist Kenneth E. Miller has been working with war-affected communities since 1991 as a researcher, clinician, organizational consultant, and filmmaker. A professor of clinical and community psychology for much of his career (San Francisco State University, Pomona College), in 2015 he joined the Dutch NGO War Child Holland and is currently based in Amsterdam. His website is www.kennethemiller.com.

Review :
You could find no better guide than Ken Miller to illuminate this dark territory. A skilled storyteller, he has an eye for nuance that is often missing in our cultural conversation about PTSD. There is great suffering in the aftermath of unthinkable events, but there is also bravery and courage that reveal what is best about humanity. I put down this book with a heart that was broken but also filled with hope."Ethan Watters, author of Crazy Like Us and cofounder, San Francisco Writers' Grotto. -- Ethan Watters, Author of Crazy Like Us and co-founder San Francisco Writer's Grotto endorsement In evocative and powerful prose, Miller captures the remarkable human capacity for resilience in the face of great adversity. He also writes with compassion about the lasting damage that war has on the human heart and mind, when the limits of resilience have been surpassed." James Garbarino, author of Lost Boys and No Place to be a Child -- James Barbarino, Author of Lost Boys and Not Place to be a Child Foreword Ken Miller's gift is the way he listens, which takes him and his readers beyond simple categories of war victim or trauma survivor to the complex experiences people have in settings torn apart by violence. I'm grateful for the way he has captured the simultaneously disabling and inspiring coexistence of darkness and light in these places. -- Jeannie Annan, International Rescue Committee endorsement War Torn provides harrowing first-hand insights into human suffering across contexts burned into global consciousness...But the extraordinarily sensitive and insightful book ultimately communicates most powerfully regarding the humanity that endures in such adversity. We would benefit from War Torn being compulsory reading... Alastair Ager, author of Faith, Secularism, and Humanitarian Engagement, and editor of Refugees: Perspectives on the Experience of Forced Migration -- Alistair Ager, Author of Faith, Secularism, and Human Engagement endorsement War Torn is an exceptional, gripping account of the impact of war a must-read for anyone interested in how war profoundly touches and shapes people's lives." -- Dr. Mark Jordans, Center for Global Mental Health, Kings College, London endorsement The courage and resilience on display in these eye-opening and heart-wrenching accounts is matched only by Miller's brave and unflinching resolve to spend his life working in refugee camps and on the front lines, bearing witness to the individual horrors of armed conflict, while trying to help the victims heal, however imperfectly. With clarity of thought and prose, he also reminds us that while people may be deeply wounded by the hardships they've endured, their spirits or psyches are seldom irreparably broken. -- Diane Ackerman, author of The Zookeeper's Wife endorsement