A powerful, probing book about PTSD.
As a journalist Keane has covered conflict and brutality across the world for more than thirty years, from Rwanda, Sudan, South Africa, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine and many more. Driven by an irresistible compulsion to be where the night is darkest, he made a name for reporting with humanity and empathy from places where death and serious injury were not abstractions, and tragedy often just a moment's bad luck away.
But all this time he struggled not to be overwhelmed by another story, his acute 'complex post-traumatic stress disorder', a condition arising from exposure to multiple instances of trauma experienced over a long period. This condition has caused him to suffer a number of mental breakdowns and hospitalisations. Despite this, and countless promises to do otherwise, he has gone back to the wars again and again.
Why?
In this powerful and intensely personal book, Keane interrogates what it is that draws him to the wars, what keeps him there and offers a reckoning of the damage done.
PTSD affects people from all walks of life. Trauma can be found in many places, not just war. Keane's book speaks to the struggle of all who are trying to recover from injury, addiction and mental breakdown. It is a survivor's story drawn from lived experience, told with honesty, courage and an open heart.
FERGAL KEANE OBE was born in London and educated in Ireland. He is one of the BBC's most distinguished correspondents and has covered most of the world's conflicts of the last thirty years. In 2020, he announced that he was stepping down as the BBC's Africa editor because of his ongoing struggles with PTSD. His documentary film Fergal Keane: Living with PTSD was broadcast in May 2022. He is the author of several bestselling and award-winning books including Letter to Daniel, addressed to his newborn son, Road of Bones, about the siege of Kohima, and Wounds, which won the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Prize and the Irish Book of the Year Award for Non-Fiction. He has been awarded a BAFTA, an Emmy and the Orwell Prize for political writing. He continues to work for the BBC as a Special Correspondent
Title: THE MADNESS: A Memoir of War, Fear and PTSD
Author: Keane, Fergal
ISBN: 9780008420420
Binding:
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: 2022-11-10
Number of Pages: 272
Weight: 0.5101 kg
Praise for The Madness
'Brutally honest in his search for the reasons why he kept returning to war zones despite the trauma it caused him... part journalistic memoir, part exorcism, the veteran BBC correspondent explores the roots of his own suffering and sounds a warning bell for others... This compelling and brutally honest book is both an exorcism and his most public pledge yet to have turned his back on conflict' Irish Times
'A really important piece of work' Susanna Reid, on Good Morning Britain
'The Madness is a powerful account of the brutality of conflict and the horrors of war - both across the world and inside the self. In sharp prose, Keane writes compellingly about where his thirst for truth comes from, and takes him to the frontline of the some of the most infamous violence of our times... The Madness is an extraordinary, captivating account of one man's journey in search of truth, as he excavates the human story from chaos.' Elaine Feeney
'Fergal Keane's unflinching account of the effects of trauma on his own life is the source of his book's profound capacity to move its reader. With radical honesty and openness, and a vulnerability that I suspect required no small amount of courage, he more than fulfils the aim he sets out for himself in the prologue: to let others who bear similar burdens know they are not alone.' Kevin Powers, bestselling and prize-winning author of The Yellow Birds
'The Madness is a raw, compelling description of Fergal Keane's addiction to war, his need to affirm the vitality of life in the midst of death. This book is powerful, and heartbreaking' Audrey Magee, author of the Booker longlisted novel The Colony and The Undertaking