“Aphrodite Matsakis is a true visionary in the world of healing. Her book is a superb resource that paves the way to hope and healing for returning warriors, their spouses, their families, their medical and mental health professionals, and all those who care about them. Well done, Aphrodite! “
— Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman, U.S. Army, Ret.
Author of On Killing and On Combat

“A must-read for anyone who loves a combat veteran struggling to heal, and for communities and policy makers who want to learn how to wrap their arms around these families and veterans to whom they owe so much.”
— Kristin Henderson, author of While They're at War: The True Story of American Families on the Homefront

“You do not have to be or know a veteran to be helped by this book. Read Back from the Front slowly from front to back. Listen to each and every story and to Matsakis's wise and clear advice. You will see yourself somewhere in its pages, and it will change how you think about the war and about the soldiers and non-soldiers we send off to do our fighting.”
—Thomas Palaima
Dickson Centennial Professor of Classics at the
University of Texas at Austin, MacArthur fellow and specialist in the ancient and modern experience of war and violence

“Aphrodite Matsakis is a national treasure. . . .  She has focused the light from her decades of on-the-ground work with combat veterans and their families in this shining work of practical wisdom. . . . .”
—Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D.
author of Achilles in Vietnam and Odysseus in America

“Dr. Matsakis brings a compelling perspective to our understanding of the searing, scarring impact of war. Her lens captures the many dimensions of life and humanity that the combat experience savagely alters. Her portraits are at once revealing and wrenching, profound and sobering. While her work depicts a tapestry of often silent suffering and loss, it also offers understanding and a path to healing.
       The author handles raw, painful subject matter with enormous sensitivity. She offers wisdom, counsel, and hope to the veteran and his or her loved ones, while opening a window of empathetic understanding to other readers.
Her work is accessible, and should be read by clinicians as well as those whose lives have been touched by war. Importantly, however, it also deserves a place on the "must-read" list for policy-makers, who must re-assess the debt we owe our service-members and their families, and who may be asked at some future date to send American forces into harm's way again.”
—Ralph Ibson
Vice President for Government Affairs
Mental Health America