1. Reed

2. Tyler

Friday, December 2:

3. Marianne

4. Maggie

Monday, December 5:

5. Caitlin

6. Tate

Wednesday, December 7:

7. Iain

8. Brad

9. Chris

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9:  No class — required attendance at (and report on) HIST 485 Symposium.

Provide the full Honor Pledge on the research paper. For all other assignments (hard copy and electronic), “I pledge” is sufficient. For electronically submitted writing, the pledge can be either on the paper or in the e-mail.

NO ONE pledged his/her topic/bibliography assignment.

Any future work not pledged will NOT be accepted until it is pledged. If that comes days after the submission deadline, the late penalty WILL apply.

E-mail to set up a time (or talk to the instructor before/after class, etc.). Please follow-up if you do not receive a response to your e-mail.

2. Full instructions for the research project (paper and presentation) are posted on the course website.

Requirements include submission of discussion evaluations and pick-up of class discussion topics/questions. They also include speaking in class, meeting with the Writing Center and Speaking Center, and meeting with the instructor.

 For films, see videos.umwblogs.org [login: ferrellhistory]

They will be without feedback that will affect whether they will receive credit or be penalized for future work.

Students’ failure to pick up their work and the instructor’s feedback will, inevitably, lead to conclusions about their interest in improvement.

Our focus is not on the military angles–although, of course, such issues and developments are unavoidable when discussing wars and military interventions–but rather on political, economic, diplomatic, cultural, social, technological, communication, etc. ones.

Students should look for “threads,” i.e., for ambitions, concerns, principles, solutions, problems, etc. that appear (in various forms and with various emphases) in the course’s case studies. Obviously, readings and films are selective, not comprehensive; therefore, much is not covered in each case study. Nevertheless, they are all part of the American nation and its people and reveal something about the United States at various moments in its history . . . about the developments and the guiding perceptions and about how its leaders and people saw the country, its past, present, and future. What was the United States? What did it want to be? How could it ensure that identity?

So, use the readings and films to understand each case study, but do not let “random” facts blind you to the “big picture.” As you learn about each war/intervention, ask what it adds to what you already know. If you do, every war and intervention should become a useful piece in the Small Wars jigsaw puzzle of American history . . . and to why the United States is what it is today and its debates and goals are what they are.

What questions today can our look at wars help us answer??

Suggestion: Send the instructor topics and references and statements that you find in today’s news, particularly in this year’s many election campaigns. She has created a menu item for them. Also, of course, bring them up in discussion (although always treating them as quick analogies and comparisons–so that they make our case studies clearer and more relevant without making it hard for classmates to participate).

America’s small wars–and their many and varied angles–are relevant to today: find and share those connections in discussion and on the website.

*Recall that evaluations which are not correctly submitted will not be accepted, read, returned, or credited. See the SYLLABUS and the EVALUATION itself for explicit directions and examples.