First-Year Studies: Gender and the Culture of War in US History, 1775-1975

The course will look closely—and from several vantage points—at domestic and international wars in the history of the United States from the American Revolution to Vietnam. Instead of a classic political-history approach, we will study the ways in which war drew attention to, and often reshaped, daily life and core assumptions about manhood and masculinity, womanhood and femininity. Rather than focusing on leaders and decision makers alone, we will analyze the work and lives of other affected constituents: rank-and-file soldiers, war workers, cultural critics, and those left to juggle new responsibilities on the home front. This course will also consider other “wars”—in particular, over slavery—that are not usually so named and their effect on domestic and gender sensibilities. Texts will include history books, biographies, memoirs, letters, editorials, novels, and, when historically appropriate, photographs and films. This will be a writing-intensive course.