Required Texts (in order of appearance)

William McNeill, The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society since A.D. 1000 (University of Chicago Press, 1982)
Brian M. Downing, The Military Revolution and Political Change (Princeton University Press, 1992)
George L. Mosse, Fallen Soldiers (Oxford University Press, 1991)
Modris Eksteins, Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age (Houghton Mifflin, 1989)
John Dower, War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (Pantheon, 1986)
Jean Bethke Elshtain, Women and War (University of Chicago Press, 1995)

Course Description

The terms “militarism” and “militarization”, as used by historians and social scientists, are not interchangeable. Militarism, broadly defined by John Gillis, is a political principle, or governing ethos, that legitimates the dominance of the military over civilian authority, usually accompanied by a deeply rooted integration of warlike values in society. Militarization, Gillis points out, is a term that can be used to describe a complex social, political, and economic process in which civil society organizes itself for the production of violence. As hermeneutic tools, both terms can include cultural preoccupations as well. This is not a colloquium on military history, that is, battles, leaders, tactics, and strategy. Rather, it examines how the changing aims of warfare, and how war is conducted and justified, have generated technological, social, economic, and cultural shifts that resonate far beyond the battlefield.

Course Objectives

This course is designed as a seminar and it places a premium on thorough preparation, critical thinking, and lively discussion. It is historiographical in orientation, which means that it will continue to train you in the vital skill of putting together, as the basic foundation of your own research, a clear narrative of how your field or topic has defined itself, what debates have emerged from it, and how new interpretative paradigms are created. In other words, you will learn to frame your research within a broader analytical context. This aim requires that you hone your ability to read for the argument, assess the strengths and weaknesses of evidence and methodology, and present succinct and coherent critiques of the work of other scholars.

Course Requirements

Essentially, this course requires that you read a book or substantial article a week. Six of the books will be common readings, that is, the required texts. The others will be of your choice.

1.Discussion and Participation (10%)

The colloquium will not work without regular attendance and active participation. Finishing the reading is not enough—you need to be able to summarize arguments, identify sources and methodology, and evaluate the works strengths and weaknesses. Note key passages and ideas and come prepared to discuss them. By the Monday before each session dealing with one of the common readings, you must submit, via email (Oncourse mail is preferred) 3-5 questions that arise from your reading that you would like the colloquium to consider. These questions will form the basis of that evening’s discussion.

2. Summaries of Critical Reception (10%)

You will each do one of these over the course of the semester. I will assign each of the common readings to two of you (as a collaborative effort), and you will turn in a 2-3-page summary of the reviews the book received (one copy for me; one for the other members of the colloquium) on the day we discuss that particular book. These papers should include who reviewed the book, what they thought of it, how different reviewers came to different conclusions, and the possible reasons for the difference of opinions. Include your own perspective as well and plan on giving an oral account of the reviews toward the end of the discussion. This assignment is intended to enhance our discussion and provide traction for our critique. To find reviews, you can start with Book Review Index, Book Review Digest, J-STOR, and ABC-Clio (Historical Abstracts). These will direct you to academic journals; for reviews written for a more general audience (which are useful and important), check Lexis-Nexis. There are undoubtedly new databases with which I am unfamiliar—consult with one of our highly skilled reference librarians.

3. Book Summaries (5; 20%)

Every other week you will read a book, or major article, you select yourself that bears some relation to that unit’s general theme. You will then provide your classmates with a brief oral and written summary (one-page, single-spaced, complete sentences in outline form) of the book. This summary should provide us with a précis of the book’s thesis, argument, sources and method, and ideological perspective (if any), as well as indicating its strengths and weaknesses and how it fits in with the theme or topic under discussion.

4. Book Reviews (2; 30%)

Book reviews are a major part of the research enterprise in that they provide you with analyses of hundreds of books that bear on your field that you will never have time to read. They also keep you up to date on the latest scholarship and inform you about current debates, topics, and methodologies. It is worth learning how to write them because of the analytical and writing skills they demand. You will write two of these reviews (15% each); you may use one of the books you chose for your summaries, or choose a different book entirely. A review can include a summary, but it is not the same thing. A reviewer must succinctly inform his readers whether the book is a contribution to the field. A “Guide to Writing Book Reviews” will be posted on Oncourse.

5. Historiographical Essay (30%)

Learning to write this type of essay, sometimes know as a survey of the literature, trains you in developing a foundation for your own research by forcing to analyze and synthesize a series of related works. It should address from four to six books (you may also include major articles). You may use books from the class readings, you can address a theme not covered in class, or you may do a little of both. This paper should be around 10-12 pages in length and use a standard citation format (footnotes/endnotes).

Schedule of Classes and Readings

1. Seminar 1 (W 8/24): Introduction

2. Seminar 2 (W 8/31): Background: Chronology, Themes, Main Issues

Due: Read/skim a general text and propose, based on that reading, a basic chronology (with main periods or turning points), a set of themes, or major issues in the study of militarism and militarization.

Wednesday, September 7: No Class (instructor at conference)

Unit One: Technology and Society

3. Seminar 3 (W 9/14): William McNeill, The Pursuit of Power

Due: Critical Reception Summaries

4. Seminar 4 (W 9/21): Individual Book Summaries

Unit Two: The State as War Machine

5. Seminar 5 (W 9/28): Brian Downing, The Military Revolution and Political Change

Due: Critical Reception Summaries

6. Seminar 6 (W 10/5): Individual Book Summaries

Unit Three: War, Identity, and Memory

7. Seminar 7 (W 10/12): George Mosse, Fallen Soldiers

Due: Critical Reception Summaries; First Book Review

8. Seminar 8 (W 10/19): Individual Book Summaries

Unit Four: War and Culture

9. Seminar 9 (W 10/26): Modris Eksteins, Rites of Spring

Due: Critical Reception Summaries

10. Seminar 10 (W 11/2): Individual Book Summaries

Unit Five: War and Race

11. Seminar 11 (W 11/9): John Dower, War Without Mercy

Due: Critical Reception Summaries; Second Book Review

12. Seminar 12 (W 11/16): Individual Book Summaries

Thanksgiving Recess (no class): 8/23-8/27

Unit Six: War and Gender

13. Seminar 13 (W 11/30): Jean Bethke Elshtain, Women and War

Due: Critical Reception Summaries

14. Seminar 14 (W 12/7): Conclusions

Historiographical Essay Due Monday, December 12 at 5:00 PM in my office