Paperback / softback
July 6, 2021
9781421440804
English
240
72199
9.00 Inches (US)
6.00 Inches (US)
0.63 Inches (US)
.7 Pounds (US)
$22.00 USD, £16.50 GBP, £18.50 GBP
v2.1 Reference
Electronic book text
July 6, 2021
9781421440811
9781421440804
English
240
72199
9.00 Inches (US)
6.00 Inches (US)
$22.00 USD, £16.50 GBP, £18.50 GBP
v2.1 Reference

Stories Are What Save Us

A Survivor's Guide to Writing about Trauma

By David Chrisinger
Afterword by Angela Ricketts, Foreword by Brian Turner

A seasoned writer and teacher of memoir explores both the difficulties inherent in writing about personal trauma and the techniques for doing so in a compelling way.

Since 2013, David Chrisinger has taught military veterans, their families, and other trauma survivors how to make sense of and recount their stories of loss and transformation. The lessons he imparts can be used by anyone who has ever experienced trauma, particularly people with a deep need to share that experience in a way that leads to connection and understanding.

In Stories Are What Save Us, Chrisinger shows—through writing exercises, memoir excerpts, and lessons he's learned from his students—the most efficient ways to uncover and effectively communicate what you've learned while fighting your life's battles, whatever they may be. Chrisinger explores both the difficulties inherent in writing about personal trauma and the techniques for doing so in a compelling way. Weaving together his journey as a writer, editor, and teacher, he reveals his own deeply personal story of family trauma and abuse and explains how his life has informed his writing.

Part craft guide, part memoir, and part teacher's handbook, Stories Are What Save Us presents readers with a wide range of craft tools and storytelling structures that Chrisinger and his students have used to process conflict in their own lives, creating beautiful stories of growth and transformation. Throughout, this profoundly moving, laser-focused book exemplifies the very lessons it strives to teach. A foreword by former soldier and memoirist Brian Turner, author of My Life as a Foreign Country, and an afterword by military wife and memoirist Angela Ricketts, author of No Man's War: Irreverent Confessions of an Infantry Wife, bookend the volume.

About the Authors

David Chrisinger directs the Harris Writing Program at the University of Chicago as well as The War Horse's writing seminars program, which offers workshops for military veterans and their families. He is the author of Public Policy Writing That Matters and the editor of See Me for Who I Am: Student Veterans' Stories of War and Coming Home.

Endorsements

"Guiding readers who are interested in writing about their traumatic experiences, Stories Are What Save Us helps to make such writing and the process that generates it meaningful. Anyone who is looking to make sense of their trauma, particularly military veterans, would be interested in reading this well-conceived book."

- Johanna Thompson-Hollands, Boston University School of Medicine

"David Chrisinger is a deft and engaging storyteller. He compellingly weaves together his own inspirational and healing story with vibrant examples of the memoir form. Helping veterans and others who have experienced trauma to write their stories, this book fills a niche in the memoir-writing genre. I look forward to having it in my resource library."

- Kathleen Adams, LPC, Center for Journal Therapy, Inc., author of Journal Therapy for Calming Anxiety: 366 Prompts to Help Reduce Stress and Create Inner Peace

"A timely book that will appeal to anyone looking for a way to tell their story and in doing so gain a better sense of control and peace. Stories Are What Save Us will be useful in courses and workshops on expressive writing, writing to heal, or trauma."

- Adam Perlman, MD, MPH, Mayo Clinic Florida

Reviews

"I was thoroughly engaged both by Chrisinger's stories of his family and friends, as well as his journey to craft his experiences into stories."

- John Capecci - Living Proof Advocacy
Johns Hopkins University Press
From 13 To 17

9781421440804 : stories-are-what-save-us-chrisinger-turner-ricketts
Paperback / softback
240 Pages
$22.00 USD
9781421440811 : stories-are-what-save-us-chrisinger-turner-ricketts
Electronic book text
240 Pages
$22.00 USD

Other Titles by David Chrisinger

Because Data Can't Speak for Itself

David Chrisinger and Lauren Brodsky
Jan 2023 - Johns Hopkins University Press
$22.95 USD - Paperback / softback
$22.95 USD - Electronic book text

Public Policy Writing That Matters, second edition

David Chrisinger - foreword by Katherine Baicker
Feb 2022 - Johns Hopkins University Press
$26.95 USD - Paperback / softback
$26.95 USD - Electronic book text

Other Titles in MEDICAL / Public Health

Nothing But Nets

Kristen Moore-Sheeley
Dec 2023 - Johns Hopkins University Press
$49.95 USD - Hardback
$49.95 USD - Electronic book text

We Wait for a Miracle

Muhammad H. Zaman
Nov 2023 - Johns Hopkins University Press
$28.95 USD - Hardback

Collapse and Resiliency

Tolbert Nyenswah, LLB, MPH, DrPH - with Mardia Stone, MD, MPH - foreword by Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Oct 2023 - Johns Hopkins University Press
$34.95 USD - Paperback / softback

Other Titles in Public health & preventive medicine

Nothing But Nets

Kristen Moore-Sheeley
Dec 2023 - Johns Hopkins University Press
$49.95 USD - Hardback
$49.95 USD - Electronic book text

We Wait for a Miracle

Muhammad H. Zaman
Nov 2023 - Johns Hopkins University Press
$28.95 USD - Hardback

Scientific Collaboration

Jeanne M. Fair
Oct 2023 - Johns Hopkins University Press
$59.95 USD - Hardback