In the Shadow of War: A Social History of the U.S. Military

4 credits · Undergraduate

The U.S. military has served as an engine of socio-economic mobility, and changes in its personnel policies often foreshadowed the reordering of American society. However, the U.S. military has also been a space in which the federal government actively discriminated against many Americans—people of color, women, immigrants, religious minorities, and queer people. This course is neither a history of American wars nor a traditional military history focused on battles and strategy; rather it explores the social dynamics of the U.S. military from the American Revolution to the present and investigates how the military has reflected, resisted, influenced, and heralded social, cultural, political, and religious transformations in American life.