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4.55 AVERAGE
4.55 AVERAGE
Insightful look into the real life impact of PTSD and mental health. For someone that on the surface appears to have everything going for him, Jason Kander explores what was happening behind the scenes. His explanation of his mental health journey is very relatable and authentic.
This book is an amazingly insightful look into trauma and is a good read if you want to learn more.
Invisible Storm
I have been listening to Jason Kander on his podcast Majority54 for a while now and I even voted for him during his run for Senate here in Missouri. It’s interesting to me that someone can seem so normal and on the very cusp of a huge undertaking like running for US president but be in such turmoil on the inside. Truly, some of us can hide what is really going on inside our heads so well; but as Jason said in the book you can’t outrun the Monster. I think that so many people, especially men, find it difficult to admit they have a problem. Reading the stories of what he did during his deployment and how that bled into his actions once he was home and how it deeply affected his wife really makes you stop and evaluate your own actions and how what you do has such a ripple effect. I enjoyed the parts that Diana offered from her perspective, it also had me evaluating how I’ve reacted to similar situations in my past. I think it took a lot of courage to write about something so personal and from reading I feel that Jason will have a hard time accepting the praise that will surely come from those that read this book (that’s just the Monster Jason, don’t let it trick you!). I would absolutely recommend this book to everyone, we all know someone that is suffering (whether they’ve displayed it outwardly or keep it all inside) and I think that reading this may help plant the seeds for them to seek help or give their loved ones a way to reach out and suggest they seek help. My favorite line in the book was “Nobody builds avocado cellars”; and I think that whole paragraph really sums up how we should be treating trauma and mental health. On the podcast they always end with “Everyone has a platform, remember to use yours today” and I feel like this book is an excellent example of just that. Way to use your platform Jason, and thank you.
I have been listening to Jason Kander on his podcast Majority54 for a while now and I even voted for him during his run for Senate here in Missouri. It’s interesting to me that someone can seem so normal and on the very cusp of a huge undertaking like running for US president but be in such turmoil on the inside. Truly, some of us can hide what is really going on inside our heads so well; but as Jason said in the book you can’t outrun the Monster. I think that so many people, especially men, find it difficult to admit they have a problem. Reading the stories of what he did during his deployment and how that bled into his actions once he was home and how it deeply affected his wife really makes you stop and evaluate your own actions and how what you do has such a ripple effect. I enjoyed the parts that Diana offered from her perspective, it also had me evaluating how I’ve reacted to similar situations in my past. I think it took a lot of courage to write about something so personal and from reading I feel that Jason will have a hard time accepting the praise that will surely come from those that read this book (that’s just the Monster Jason, don’t let it trick you!). I would absolutely recommend this book to everyone, we all know someone that is suffering (whether they’ve displayed it outwardly or keep it all inside) and I think that reading this may help plant the seeds for them to seek help or give their loved ones a way to reach out and suggest they seek help. My favorite line in the book was “Nobody builds avocado cellars”; and I think that whole paragraph really sums up how we should be treating trauma and mental health. On the podcast they always end with “Everyone has a platform, remember to use yours today” and I feel like this book is an excellent example of just that. Way to use your platform Jason, and thank you.
“The doctor sat back in his chair. ‘Barack Obama told you that you could run for President?’ He tapped his notebook a couple of times with his pen, then pursed his lips, ‘So how often would you say you hear voices?’”
So begins Jason Kander’s “Invisible Storm A Soldier’s Memoir of Politics and PTSD”.
Jason Kander is a bit of an enigma. He attended and did well in both a prestigious college and law school but felt more at home training with his cohorts in the National Guard on his time off. He is a progressive Democrat and a combat veteran who served a tour in Afghanistan. These attributes, combined with his earnest “desire to serve” catapulted him into the Democratic party’s stratosphere. After his tour, he became a Missouri Congressman. He then became the Missouri’s Secretary of State and just narrowly lost a Senate race in 2016. He was the future of the Democratic party, so it was a bit surprising when, in 2018, he announced that he was running for the mayoral race in Kansas City. It was downright sobering when he announced, weeks before the election, that he was dropping out of the race to focus on healing from PTSD.
This memoir candidly details the havoc PTSD wrought on Kander and his family, even as it looked from the outside that everything was perfect. Kander’s wife, Diana, shares her perspective throughout the book too. It is eye opening. I appreciate Kander’s honesty as he describes the anger, shame, guilt, and comparison he dealt with. It also shines a light on how difficult it is for our veterans to get the mental health help they need. He sought and received help from the VA but it was a difficult process.
This book is riveting. I was so intrigued as I read about his ascension in both the military and then the political world. The stories Kander includes about his tour overseas or his campaign across America are well written and captivating. Most enjoyable, though, were the snippets of his time healing with his family and friends. It’s beautiful and I wish every PTSD sufferer can have that too.
Even if you’re not a combat veteran or into politics, you can glean so much from Kander’s story. We’ve all been through a collective trauma these past two plus years with the pandemic and it’s important to deal with that. Kander was able to get the help he needed and is doing well now. It’s incredibly hopeful to think that if he was able to get better, then we can too.
I’m grateful to Net Galley for the early copy of the book.
So begins Jason Kander’s “Invisible Storm A Soldier’s Memoir of Politics and PTSD”.
Jason Kander is a bit of an enigma. He attended and did well in both a prestigious college and law school but felt more at home training with his cohorts in the National Guard on his time off. He is a progressive Democrat and a combat veteran who served a tour in Afghanistan. These attributes, combined with his earnest “desire to serve” catapulted him into the Democratic party’s stratosphere. After his tour, he became a Missouri Congressman. He then became the Missouri’s Secretary of State and just narrowly lost a Senate race in 2016. He was the future of the Democratic party, so it was a bit surprising when, in 2018, he announced that he was running for the mayoral race in Kansas City. It was downright sobering when he announced, weeks before the election, that he was dropping out of the race to focus on healing from PTSD.
This memoir candidly details the havoc PTSD wrought on Kander and his family, even as it looked from the outside that everything was perfect. Kander’s wife, Diana, shares her perspective throughout the book too. It is eye opening. I appreciate Kander’s honesty as he describes the anger, shame, guilt, and comparison he dealt with. It also shines a light on how difficult it is for our veterans to get the mental health help they need. He sought and received help from the VA but it was a difficult process.
This book is riveting. I was so intrigued as I read about his ascension in both the military and then the political world. The stories Kander includes about his tour overseas or his campaign across America are well written and captivating. Most enjoyable, though, were the snippets of his time healing with his family and friends. It’s beautiful and I wish every PTSD sufferer can have that too.
Even if you’re not a combat veteran or into politics, you can glean so much from Kander’s story. We’ve all been through a collective trauma these past two plus years with the pandemic and it’s important to deal with that. Kander was able to get the help he needed and is doing well now. It’s incredibly hopeful to think that if he was able to get better, then we can too.
I’m grateful to Net Galley for the early copy of the book.
Thank you HarperCollins Publishers and Jason Kander for an ARC of this book through Goodreads. This was a very interesting and moving account of what Jason Kander was and is still going through with PTSD. I will definitely be sharing this book with others. I know of some people that I work with that are going through PTSD and perhaps after reading this book they will decide to look into getting help as well.
Even though he is not currently running, he still helps American citizens and veterans through his work with the VCP and the Let America Vote organization. Thank you for your service Jason Kander.
Even though he is not currently running, he still helps American citizens and veterans through his work with the VCP and the Let America Vote organization. Thank you for your service Jason Kander.
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
It was a good book. It made me reflect on how I should have more empathy for soldiers, even though I am pretty anti war. It was interesting to learn about his political career.
we've known about PTSD for so long, and yet, ... this book was so necessary and hopefully helps so many people.
I very much enjoyed this book. Invisible Storm follows Jason Kander, an army veteran who was deployed in Afghanistan and also ran for a couple political offices in Missouri. The book also includes thoughts from his wife Diana, which gave two perspectives on the same situation.
The book highlights many real hardships of relationships and normalizes those hardships. Diana and Jason went through many difficult times together (Jason’s deployment, depression, and running for political office) and they’re still together, and you can tell they have so much love for each other and are very strong. It really shows a lot of strength to support your partner and love them unconditionally through tough times.
Jason struggled a lot while running for political office due to PTSD. Throughout his time running for office, he wrote that he constantly had to keep working so he wouldn’t have thoughts of his time in Afghanistan. However, he longed to be deployed again so he could have war experiences on par with other soldiers. A quote that really sticks with me is “I fixated on that comparison, constantly downplaying both my trauma and what it did to me…PTSD is an injury. That’s all it is.” Jason also states that “the army wires every soldier to think what I did was no big deal. It’s an absolutely necessary form of brainwashing that helps keep you going.” If I didn’t already have the utmost respect for people who serve in the military, I certainly do now.
I love this quote from the book “I’d become the guy who won by losing.” Jason realized that holding political office probably wasn’t for him, but since being exposed to US politics, he ended up getting more involved in activism and creating Let America Vote and Veterans Community Project, and meeting other progressive politicians eager to make positive changes in the US.
The openness of both Jason and Diana captured in Invisible Storm show how strong being vulnerable is. The fact that Jason told the truth about his PTSD when he announced he was taking a break from politics is something we need more of. Being honest about mental health is so so important. I highly recommend this book to everyone.
The book highlights many real hardships of relationships and normalizes those hardships. Diana and Jason went through many difficult times together (Jason’s deployment, depression, and running for political office) and they’re still together, and you can tell they have so much love for each other and are very strong. It really shows a lot of strength to support your partner and love them unconditionally through tough times.
Jason struggled a lot while running for political office due to PTSD. Throughout his time running for office, he wrote that he constantly had to keep working so he wouldn’t have thoughts of his time in Afghanistan. However, he longed to be deployed again so he could have war experiences on par with other soldiers. A quote that really sticks with me is “I fixated on that comparison, constantly downplaying both my trauma and what it did to me…PTSD is an injury. That’s all it is.” Jason also states that “the army wires every soldier to think what I did was no big deal. It’s an absolutely necessary form of brainwashing that helps keep you going.” If I didn’t already have the utmost respect for people who serve in the military, I certainly do now.
I love this quote from the book “I’d become the guy who won by losing.” Jason realized that holding political office probably wasn’t for him, but since being exposed to US politics, he ended up getting more involved in activism and creating Let America Vote and Veterans Community Project, and meeting other progressive politicians eager to make positive changes in the US.
The openness of both Jason and Diana captured in Invisible Storm show how strong being vulnerable is. The fact that Jason told the truth about his PTSD when he announced he was taking a break from politics is something we need more of. Being honest about mental health is so so important. I highly recommend this book to everyone.
It's hard to express how important a book like this is, no matter what your connection to PTSD is or where you are in your mental health journey. If my book review or recommendation serves any purpose; let it first be a challenge to you to continue to learn yourself inside and out. Second, let it be a "thank you" to Team Kander, a family and group of activists that already had my utmost respect as role models and public figures. Jason and Diana walk us through what it really looks like to look "The Monster" in the eye and face it head-on. I couldn't have picked this book up at a better time for myself, but honestly, the best time for anyone to read "Invisible Storm" is ASAP.
Excellent, excellent book. I first became aware of Jason Kander as a politician. I learned a bit about his time as a soldier from his first book. But this book, about his PTSD and post-traumatic growth, really makes me admire him as something way more important…a human being.