The Iliad from an Iraq War veteran’s perspective
The Iliad, Europe’s first book and oldest story of war, is at least 2600 years old. Read by leaders from Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to Napoleon and Patton, this ancient epic has informed warfare spanning continents and millennia. What does it have to say to our current generation of war fighters and those that stand behind them?
Published by Blue Ear Books.
The Iliad tells the tale of the Trojan War through Achilles’ wrath and the devastation it brings not only to his enemies but to his own army. It presents warfare as the Ancient Greeks fantasized it would be: heroes with superhuman strength and shining armor fighting alongside the gods. Such a portrayal invites us to ask how this foundational story may overlook – or even glorify – the brutality of real warfare. Drawing on his own experiences as a combat veteran, Josh Cannon’s Fatal Second Helen explores this tension and reflects on what Homer’s Iliad can teach us about modern war.
Table of contents
Chapters
1
Preface
9
Introduction
21
Chapter One: An Argument
29
Chapter Two: An Assembly and a Catalog
41
Chapter Three: A Duel and a Battle
51
Chapter Four: The Battle Rages
Fatal Second Helen 