HUMN260 — The History and Literature of Recent American Wars
HUMN 260 - The History and Literature of Recent American Wars HUMN 260 - The History and Literature of Recent American Wars (3,0) 3 Credits This interdisciplinary, team-taught course will examine both the history and literature of recent American wars. It will begin with an examination of the Vietnam war: its underlying causes, the attitudes and practices with which it was fought, and the changes it wrought in American society. It will then explore how the policies and practices of the Vietnam War became the paradigm for subsequent wars, particularly those in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will study the literature born out of these wars and the relationship between this literature and the history of the wars. Through a side-by-side examination of literature and historical sources, both primary and secondary, students will consider how literature has been shaped by war, how literature has shaped culture and politics in periods of war, and how it can us understand the past. Finally it will consider the legacy of the Vietnam war and how and why this legacy is alive in the wars in which the United States is presently engaged. Course link