Includes poetry by Memer Blakelee, Thomas Sackville (1536 - 1608) and ovid's Metamorphoses on the birth of the sons of mars.
From world-renowned psychologist and bestselling author of The Soul's Code, a profound examination of the roots of man's primal love/hate relationship with war. War is a timeless force in the human imagination-and, indeed, in daily life. If recent events have taught us anything, it is that peacetime is not nearly so constant and attainable as wartime. During the 5,600 years of recorded history, 14,600 wars have been fought-2 to 3 for every year of human history. War is a constant thing. And yet no one really understands why that is. In A Terrible Love of War, James Hillman, one of the central figures in psychology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, fills this great void and undertakes a groundbreaking examination of the origins, needs, and rewards of war. Moreover, in this brilliant inquiry, Hillman explores many other essential questions, such as: Is war a necessary part of our human soul and, therefore, a necessary part of our lives? Why do we need enemies? What scars does warfare carve on the psyche of its soldiers? And why does it have such a permanent effect? If war is such a "normal" part of our existence, why do we fear it so much? And alternately, how could we ever embrace a force so destructive, so wanton, and so inhuman?Can the impulse to engage in war be tamed? Hillman asserts that "if we want war's horror to be abated so that life may go on, it is necessary to understand and imagine." A Terrible Love of War is a crucial tool to understanding war-a crucial book for us all.


Hillman served in the US Navy Hospital Corps from 1944–1946

James Hillman (born 1926) is an American psychologist. He studied at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, developed archetypal psychology and is now retired as a private practitioner. Hillman was born on April 12, 1926, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He identifies himself as Jewish and European in ancestry. He served in the US Navy Hospital Corps from 1944–1946, after which he attended the Sorbonne in Paris and Trinity College, Dublin, graduating in 1950. In 1959, he received his PhD from the University of Zurich, as well as his analyst's diploma from the C.G. Jung Institute and was then appointed as Director of Studies at the institute, a position he held until 1969. In 1970, Hillman became editor of Spring Publications, a publishing company devoted to advancing Archetypal Psychology as well as publishing books on mythology, philosophy and art. His magnum opus, Re-visioning Psychology, was written in 1975 and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Hillman then helped co-found the Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture in 1978. His 1997 book, The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling, was on the The New York Times Best Seller List that year. His works and ideas about philosophy and psychology have also been popularized by other authors such as Thomas Moore. His papers and book drafts reside at Opus Archives and Research Center, located on the campuses of the Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, California.
-- Wikipedia