The Nonfiction Reading Series and the Moral Injury Project of Syracuse University will present a reading and discussion by Dr. Nancy Sherman, author of Afterwar and The Untold War on Friday, October 14, from 2:30-4:00 p.m. in room 207 of the Hall of Languages. Following her reading, there will be a reception and book signing.  This reading is free and open to the public. 

Trained in both ancient ethics and psychoanalysis, and with twenty years of experience working with the military, Sherman draws on in-depth interviews with servicemen and women to paint a richly textured and compassionate picture of the moral and psychological aftermath of America’s longest wars. 2.6 million soldiers are currently returning home from war, the greatest number since Vietnam. Facing an increase in suicides and post-traumatic stress, the military has embraced measures such as resilience training and positive psychology to heal mind as well as body. Sherman argues that some psychological wounds of war need a kind of healing through moral understanding that is the special province of philosophical engagement and listening.

Professor Sherman is University Professor at Georgetown and Professor of Philosophy. She has a University Affiliate appointment at Georgetown Law’s Center on National Security and the Law and is a Faculty Affiliate at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics.

Her publications include Afterwar: Healing the Moral Wounds of our Soldiers (Oxford, 2015); The Untold War: Inside the Hearts, Minds, and Souls of our Soldiers (W.W. Norton, 2010); Stoic Warriors: The Ancient Philosophy Behind the Military Mind (Oxford, 2005); Making a Necessity of Virtue: Aristotle and Kant on Virtue (Cambridge, 1997); The Fabric of Character: Aristotle’s Theory of Virtue, (Oxford 1989, translated in Spanish, 1998); Critical Essays on the Classics: Aristotle’s Ethics, Ed. (Rowman and Littlefield, 1999). She has written over 60 articles in the area of ethics, military ethics, the history of moral philosophy, ancient ethics, the emotions, moral psychology, and psychoanalysis.

Now in its 9th year, the Nonfiction Reading Series is sponsored by the Syracuse University Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition. The popular series features local, national, and international writers of all types of nonfiction, including memoir and autobiography, the personal essay, political essays, and historical narrative, among others.  

For more informtion about the series, please visit: wrt.syr.edu/News/NFRS/