In this book Charles Figley, founding president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS), has assembled the pioneers in the burgeoning field of traumatology. This unique volume presents autobiographical essays of sixteen leaders in the field, each of whom has been recognized by the ISTSS for their contributions to the advancement of the field. Dynamos such as Bessel van der Kolk, Judith Herman, and Yael Danieli will each approach their chapter by answering a series of four fundamental questions that force the author to revisit their initial forays into the field of traumatology before it had been established as such. These four starting questions are as follows:
1) What have been your greatest achievements and contributions to the field? 2) Who were the people who most influenced you to make these contributions? 3) What were the events in your life that lead to your interest in trauma? 4) How would you hope current and future trauma scholars will build upon your work?
This impressive collection of contributors - a veritable who's-who in the field - writing under the guidance of one of the world's leading tramaulogists will position the book for success among the growing population of trauma specialists, researchers, practitioners, counselors, and trainees. This book has the potential to become a classic text within the traumatology literature, offering generations to come a single compilation of the pioneers of the field.

Mapping Trauma and Its Wake is a compilation of autobiographic essays by seventeen of the field's pioneers, each of whom has been recognized for his or her contributions by the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Each author discusses how he or she first got interested in the field, what each feels are his or her greatest achievements, and where the discipline might - and should - go from here. This impressive collection of essays by internationally-renowned specialists is destined to become a classic of traumatology literature. It is a text that will provide future mental health professionals with a window into the early years of this rapidly expanding field.