Historical trauma is a relatively new yet crucial area of study within psychology, history, and related disciplines. This book introduces the concept of historical trauma by providing a comprehensive overview of the latest vocabulary, seminal psychological concepts, and quantitative research in the field. By drawing together cross-disciplinary threads and examining eight global contexts of historical trauma, the author highlights a wide-ranging and rigorous body of research that further adds to our clinical understanding of the possible long-term effects of collective trauma. The chapters also explore remedies against the historical effects of trauma, which tend to go far beyond psycho-therapeutic interventions, especially when they are dedicated to the culture of remembrance or empowerment for disadvantaged young people. By revealing a wealth of new ideas that point to a pivotal moment in the evolution of social sciences, this volume can help transform the way psychologists serve victimized communities around the world.

‘Andreas Maercker brings diagnostic acuity, breadth of comparison and historical depth to bear on some of the world’s most enduring problems. He spans four centuries, across four continents, to show commonalities among traumatized communities that might be susceptible to parallel processes of recovery and repair. Historical Trauma is unusually original and urgent: a tour de force.’

David Armitage - author of Civil Wars: A History in Ideas

‘This masterful, socially engaged, and solidly scientific study offers wide-ranging and profound insights into the pathways by which collective traumas are transmitted across generations. No other book can compete with the richness of its case studies, the clarity of its vision, the precision of its analysis, and the soundness of its practical advice.’

José Brunner - Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University, Israel

‘This book combines a panoramic view on methods and theories of trauma research with unusually rich cultural evidence. From indigenous Americans and Holocaust victims to the Italian mafiosi, Andreas Maercker shows both the universality and historical variations of trauma.’

Alexander Etkind - author of Warped Mourning

‘Can social communities experience trauma? Psychologist Andreas Maercker offers us invaluable insights into how victimised groups around the world, conceived as ‘cultures of remembrance’, have made sense of their experiences.’

Ute Frevert - Director, Max Planck Institute for Human Development

‘Andreas Maercker is a leading expert on traumatic stress. In this new book, he explores social pathologies, which can affect entire societies following collective trauma. He shows us psychotherapists and clinicians what changes occur in the collective psyche in addition to the well-known PTSD symptoms. Our field of psychotraumatology has reached a point where it is essential for all of us to embrace this surge in knowledge. Highly recommended reading.’

Miranda Olff - Head of the Center for Psychological Trauma, University of Amsterdam, and Chair of The Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress