Important announcement!

Folks, I can't be in class tomorrow because I have to be in the hospital with my dad, who is undergoing minor surgery in Portland. He had brain surgery a week ago, and is making progress, but needs one more minor procedure before he can come back here to the eastside and continue his recovery in a rehab facility. You can send me questions by email(brigitf2001@yahoo.com), because it'll be a long day of just sitting, and then you will have your exam on Wednesday. My dad and I both apologize for the disruption...he taught history himself for 35 years.

Here we go again with question #2 for next week's exam: Directions part II: Mystery question. You will answer a general question on Peter Englund’s book The Beauty and the Sorrow, based on the years l9l4 and l9l5. HINT: think about how the individuals profiled in the book help you understand the nature of this conflict. You will not be asked to describe in detail what happened on page 102 or anything like that…

October 17 exam question #2(50%)

October 17 exam question 1(50%)

Another term for the Great War is the “World War,” so called before l939 partly because no one could envision a second, partly because of its reach. Although it started in Sarajevo, Bosnia, southeast Europe, it went global virtually from its first moments. Write an essay in which you explain how this was a world war even in its first two years. You can either narrate how it became global, in other words go chronological, or go thematically and give evidence of its global nature—you could write a book on either.

Second try at 455 syl

History 455—The Great War Fall 2012 WSUTC B. Farley Office 207J West Building, Faculty Row/372-7357/email brigitf2001@yahoo.com, bfarley@tricity.wsu.edu Non-virtual office hours are basically just before or after class, and then 3:15-4 pm, Mondays and Wednesdays. Virtual office hours anytime, 24/7. You can email me any time and I will get back to you as soon as possible, ideally at least by the next day if I am in the country. I don’t like the phone because it disturbs the two octogenarians I live with. “They shall not grow old, as we who are left grow old Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them” Lawrence Binyon, “For The Fallen,” l9l4. This poem is still recited every evening at 8 pm at the Menin Gate memorial to the missing in Ypres(Ieper), Belgium

The image above is of a tombstone in the Ypres Ramparts cemetery, Belgium. The compelling part is the epitaph, which reads, "Someday we will understand." Maybe, but I'm not so sure. Course Introduction: Welcome to the first official offering of World War I, the history of arguably the most significant conflict in the last two centuries. Actually, it is hard to qualify that statement with "arguably," since the so-called Great War produced fighting of unparalleled savagery and the first instance of organized ethnic murder, incited entire populations to hatred of one another, produced the first WMDs(poison gas, flamethrowers, zeppelins), pushed a nation over the edge into mutiny and the embrace of Communism, killed off four empires and nine million—that is, 9,000,000-- individuals, erased the entire map of Europe and the Middle East, created a host of new states and left the United States as the lone functioning great power. Oh, and did I mention the fact that World War I convinced a corporal Hitler to go into politics on the theory that "degenerates" on the home front cost the German people victory in the war? Or, consequently, that World War I is widely believed to be the cause of World War II, an even longer, bloodier and MORE global conflict than the first?? Or that it was the brilliant peacemakers of WWI that created the modern middle East, especially IRAQ and SYRIA?! Congratulations, what a splendid job you all did! I think you get the picture: this thing was kind of important. Readings: At least a part of each week's readings will be taken from an online World War I document archive based at Brigham Young University and the University of Kansas. One of the longer ones, the diary of Ambassador Morgenthau, you will read in its entirety. Besides the online material, you will have Martin Gilbert's history of World War I, a terrific basic source with a lot of great anecdotes and telling detail. In addition, we have the Penguin Book of First World War Poetry. You know this was an awful ordeal if it is a poetry war. Poetry tries to say what cannot be said. Finally, Peter Englund’s magnificent The Beauty and the Sorrow, a unique work on this war or any other. We will try a little experiment this semester: you will make your own arrangements for getting these books. You have several options: library, Powells, Amazon if you want bricks-and-mortar books. And except for Gilbert, you can get them for Kindle or Ipad/Iphone(download the Kindle App from the app store) or your tablet of choice. This ought to cut down on the cost at least a little bit. Moreover, there are tons of fantastic websites out there, mostly British, maintained by people you can only describe as Great Warophiles. I have listed many of them on the syllabus for you. Please let me know of any new ones you find. Evaluation: History 455 is a tier III course. This means in part that you have to undertake a significant project covering one or more topics related to the course content and ideally reflecting a diversity of disciplines. This should reflect your interests and strengths, because it will require a lot of effort. You have two options: a bricks-and-mortar term paper, using a variety of sources, or a work using other forms, other media. This might be a website spotlighting an important aspect of the war, an oral presentation on someone you feel deserves more attention, a concert of relevant music if you are a musician, an illustrated talk on innovations in warfare. I particularly remember two presenters: the student who did a remarkable powerpoint covering the development of air warfare and airplanes in the war, and a talented musicianwho researched and presented a concert of Great War popular songs in which she played piano and her granddaughter sang. We even brought in seniors from the local assisted living facility for that! Whatever you do, I want everyone in class to present this work, or a part of it, to the Student Liberal Arts symposium in December, because people do not know this war. You have three weeks to think about it, after which you must submit to me a description of what you want to do and a preliminary list of sources. A listing of possible subjects might include the following: the changing nature of warfare in the Great War, WMD in WWI, theory and practice of trench warfare, role of women in the war, propaganda, film and the Great War(then and now), commemoration, colonial or Dominion soldiers and the Great War, America’s impact on the war, the war on the American homefront, the making of new nations(Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Iraq), impact of the Russian revolution, accounting for and memorializing the missing, shell shock, “shot at dawn” cases, battlefield medicine and plastic surgery, the origins and history of the “unknown” soldier, poetry and poets in the Great War, Balfour declaration and the making of the postwar Middle East, the Armenian genocide(for example, how was this covered in America?) Aside from this, we will have one midterm, in early October and another just before dead week. You will always know all the possible questions and items at least two weeks in advance; what you do not know is which ones will appear on the exam paper, so you should prepare everything. Objectives: I will be happy, and you will get credit, if you can discuss some of the issues that caused this war and which remained unsettled even after the peace was concluded in l9l9. Aside from that, you should be able to explain the connections between the Great War and the Russian revolution, trace the origins and course of the Armenian genocide, make clear the factors that made this conflict a truly global war and discuss in a general way how the maps of Europe, the Middle East and Asia were redrawn after the war. If you can do all of that, you will have a good idea of why this conflict was so key to the unfolding of the 20th century--and why people in high school and junior high seldom, if ever touch it. You are not going to get it by answering questions at the end of the chapters or coloring maps or copying out of the encyclopedia. A Note from Disability Resources: Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have a documented disability. Classroom accommodation forms are available through the Disability Services Office. If you have a documented disability (even temporary) make an appointment as soon as possible with the Disability Services Coordinator Cherish Tijerina room 269 West Building. You will need to provide your instructor with the appropriate classroom accommodation form from Disability Services during the first week of class. Late notification may mean that requested accommodations might not be available. All accommodations for disabilities must be approved through the Disability Services Coordinator. Translation: People here want you to succeed, so please let them help you. Schedule Note that we will go by topic, rather than date. It is difficult to say how much time we will be spending on any given topic. The numbered topics represent my best guestimate. 1. Europe before the apocalypse, l870-l9l4 Readings: Gilbert, Introduction + chapters 1-2; Thomas Hardy, "Channel Firing," Penguin Book of First World War Poetry. Recommended readings: Vladimir Dedijer, The Road to Sarajevo. If you want to understand the mentality of the teenaged assassins of Franz Ferdinand, this is an essential read. They were the Al-Quaeda of their day, though necessarily more localized since they didn’t have modern communications, suitcase nukes or airplanes to hijack in their day. Recommended film: Mayerling(l969), starring Catherine de Neuve. If not for Crown Prince Rudolf's suicide at the Mayerling hunting lodge in the early l880s, Franz Ferdinand would never have become heir to the Habsburg throne and Austria-Hungary's tragic last years might have turned out very differently. 2. Not your six-week wonder: the coming of global war, June -December l9l4. Readings: Gilbert, chapters 3-6(l9l4); Penguin book, Anna Akhmatova, "July l9l4," Englund, 1-76, l9l4. Recommended readings: Barbara Tuchman, The Guns of August. This is an impressive chronicle of how the powers basically stumbled into this conflict. President John F. Kennedy read it just prior to the Cuban Missle Crisis and was guided by some of its conclusions as he attempted to reach a resolution with Khrushchev in October l962. Recommended website: The British Army in the Great War, www.1914-l9l8.net. A great and comprehensive site covering the British and dominion armies in World War I. Remember, Great Britain was an empire and drew troops from all corners of the globe. India was particularly well represented. See an overview of their activity at www.king-emperor.com. There are also Irish, Australian, New Zealand, Newfoundland and Canadian sites aplenty. They are too numerous to list, but you can find them with a simple google search. 3. The brutal year l9l5: Turkish double tragedy, some consequential losses at sea, the war on the western front Readings: Ambassador Morgenthau's diary, WWI document archive, www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi(category); Gilbert, chapters 7-12(1915); Penguin book, John McCrae, "In Flanders Fields," Englund, 7-204, l9l5. Film: Gallipoli(l981), starring a young Mel Gibson. There are few more moving films in the history of cinema. Recommended websites: www.ww1-propaganda-cards.com. This is an excellent online postcard library dedicated to the theory and practice of propaganda, which both sides used extensively. World War I was the first war that saw the systematic use of propaganda. You should also surf over to the Imperial War Museum, www.iwpm.org.uk They have some wonderful WWI resources. Finally, the sad story of the “pals,” groups of friends who joined, or were drafted into, the British army. Go to www.pals.org.uk and read the story of the friends from Accrington, UK. 4. Butchery and horror: the Somme, Verdun, Passchendaele, plus the birth of the Irish republic. Readings: Gilbert, chapters 12-16(1916); Penguin book, Wilfrid Owen, "Dulce et Decorum est, " "Anthem for Doomed Youth,” Englund, 203-314, l9l6. Recommended reading: Alastair Horne, The Price of Glory: Verdun l9l6. A modern classic of military/social history. Recommended websites: www.unfortunate-region.org. This is a place where you can access excellent photographs of the battlefields mentioned in this section of class. 5. The year of mutinies: nations, armies, individuals Readings: Gilbert, chapters 16-19(1917); Penguin Book, Alan Seeger, "Rendezvous,” Englund, 317-419, l9l7. Also, www.shotatdawn.org.uk. This is a site dedicated to clearing the names of men shot for “cowardice” or “desertion,” but who may have been suffering from shell shock and/or trauma after the terrible ordeal of the trenches l9l4-l9l6. All these years later, their families work to obtain for them an honorable discharge and/or posthumous rehabilitation. Recommended website: http://www.kobariski-muzej.si/?lng=ang. This is the official side of the Kobarid museum of the Great War in Slovenia, one of the best resources for this war. 6. The outlines of a new world, l9l7-l9l8. Readings: Gilbert, chaptera 20-22; Penguin book, Siegfried Sassoon, "Does it matter?,” Englund, 424-508. Recommended readings: Go to the Truman Library, www.trumanlibrary.org, and read some of then-Captain Harry S. Truman's memoirs of being a member of the US contingent sent to France to save the Allies. Also, Robert Massie, The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. All about the crime of the century, the cold-blooded murder of the Russian tsar, his wife and children. Recommended website: Trenches on the web, an American-centered site covering all aspects of the war. www.worldwar1.com. 7. "All quiet on the western front:" the road to the llth hour of the llth day of the llth month, l9l8. Readings: "NY Times report on end of the war," WWI document archive, www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi(year l9l8); Gilbert, chapters 23-26. Recommended readings/film: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. Film by the same name, issued l930. DO NOT WATCH THE MODERN VERSIONS. They are a WASTE O’ TIME! 8. Peace breaks out: the Versailles settlements and the making of a new world map, l9l9-l922. Readings: Finish Gilbert; Penguin Book, TBA. Recommended readings: Louis Auchincloss, Woodrow Wilson. This is the newest biography of President Wilson, one of the architects of the post-war peace settlements. Margaret MacMillan, Paris l9l9. Everything you always wanted to know about the peace settlements. 9. “We will remember them:” the landscape of commemoration on the western front and beyond Recommended reading: Marc Dugain, The Officers’ Ward. What happens to soldiers whose faces were grotesquely and permanently mutilated in the war. Also, Juliet Nicholson, The Great Silence, a moving Great Britain in the years just following World War I. Recommended websites: Learn about and hear “Last Post,” played nightly beneath the Menin Gate in Ypres, a tribute to 54,000 British and Dominion soldiers with no known graves. www.lastpost.be. Also, Commonwealth War Graves Association website, www.cwgc.org. They designed and built the hundreds of cemeteries on the western front, and by now everywhere around the world. For information on American casualties and memorials, www.ambc.org, the American Battle Monuments Commission.

Destresser Dogs

In case the situation with the syllabus is driving you slightly crazy, here's a couple pictures to calm you: my two dogs Annie, who is yawning, and Charlie. They will be appearing every now and then...

First two sections 455

Again from Computer Hell Central, here are the first two assignments--good for the first two or three weeks--for 455. i PROMISE to get this situation fixed as soon as I get the new machine. I hope the demons in this one don't transfer to the newbie! 1. Europe before the apocalypse, l870-l9l4 Readings: Gilbert, Introduction + chapters 1-2; Thomas Hardy, "Channel Firing," Penguin Book of First World War Poetry. Recommended readings: Vladimir Dedijer, The Road to Sarajevo. If you want to understand the mentality of the teenaged assassins of Franz Ferdinand, this is an essential read. They were the Al-Quaeda of their day, though necessarily more localized since they didn’t have modern communications, suitcase nukes or airplanes to hijack in their day. Recommended film: Mayerling(l969), starring Catherine de Neuve. If not for Crown Prince Rudolf's suicide at the Mayerling hunting lodge in the early l880s, Franz Ferdinand would never have become heir to the Habsburg throne and Austria-Hungary's tragic last years might have turned out very differently. 2. Not your six-week wonder: the coming of global war, June -December l9l4. Readings: Gilbert, chapters 3-6(l9l4); Penguin book, Anna Akhmatova, "July l9l4," Englund, 1-76, l9l4. Recommended readings: Barbara Tuchman, The Guns of August. This is an impressive chronicle of how the powers basically stumbled into this conflict. President John F. Kennedy read it just prior to the Cuban Missle Crisis and was guided by some of its conclusions as he attempted to reach a resolution with Khrushchev in October l962. Recommended website: The British Army in the Great War, www.1914-l9l8.net. A great and comprehensive site covering the British and dominion armies in World War I. Remember, Great Britain was an empire and drew troops from all corners of the globe. India was particularly well represented. See an overview of their activity at www.king-emperor.com. There are also Irish, Australian, New Zealand, Newfoundland and Canadian sites aplenty. They are too numerous to list, but you can find them with a simple google search.

Tier III plus required books

Folks, computer hell is continuing here, I am deep in about the 7th circle, and so will surrender and get a new machine today. Meantime, here's the required books: Martin Gilbert, The First World War(text) The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry Peter Englund, the Beauty and the Sorrow. You can get Gilbert from Amazon or Powells or interlibrary loan in hard copy; the other two you have the option of getting for Kindle/Ipad/your tablet of choice. Here's the garbled info for the tier III assignment: Evaluation: History 455 is a tier III course. This means in part that you have to undertake a significant project covering one or more topics related to the course content and ideally reflecting a diversity of disciplines. This should reflect your interests and strengths, because it will require a lot of effort. You have two options: a bricks-and-mortar term paper, using a variety of sources, or a work using other forms, other media. This might be a website spotlighting an important aspect of the war, an oral presentation on someone you feel deserves more attention, a concert of relevant music if you are a musician, an illustrated talk on innovations in warfare. I particularly remember two presenters: the student who did a remarkable powerpoint covering the development of air warfare and airplanes in the war, and a talented musicianwho researched and presented a concert of Great War popular songs in which she played piano and her granddaughter sang. We even brought in seniors from the local assisted living facility for that! Whatever you do, I want everyone in class to present this work, or a part of it, to the Student Liberal Arts symposium in December, because people do not know this war. You have three weeks to think about it, after which you must submit to me a description of what you want to do and a preliminary list of sources. A listing of possible subjects might include the following: the changing nature of warfare in the Great War, WMD in WWI, theory and practice of trench warfare, role of women in the war, propaganda, film and the Great War(then and now), commemoration, colonial or Dominion soldiers and the Great War, America’s impact on the war, the war on the American homefront, the making of new nations(Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Iraq), impact of the Russian revolution, accounting for and memorializing the missing, shell shock, “shot at dawn” cases, battlefield medicine and plastic surgery, the origins and history of the “unknown” soldier, poetry and poets in the Great War, Balfour declaration and the making of the postwar Middle East, the Armenian genocide(for example, how was this covered in America?) Aside from this, we will have one midterm, in early October and another just before dead week. You will always know all the possible questions and items at least two weeks in advance; what you do not know is which ones will appear on the exam paper, so you should prepare everything.

History 569 assignment 1

September 10: Origins Required reading: Michael Neiberg, Dance of the Furies; Norman Angell, “The Great Illusion” online http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Norman_Angell%27s_The_Great_Illusion Reading from me: Joachim Remak, Sarajevo: Story of a Political Murder.

569 syllabus--class info

History 569: Great War B. Farley/541-276-6962/baf007@gmail.com. I’m not at campus that often, because I live with health-challenged 86 and 90 year olds, but I have a massive communications empire at home and you should feel free to email any time. Welcome to this term’s field course on the Great War. Whatever your area of specialization, you won’t be wasting your time getting to know this conflict “up close and personal” because it produced so many of the most consequential issues and problems associated with the 20th century and beyond. A partial list would include Communism in Russia, the modern middle East(fake states like Iraq and Syria, the Israel-Palestine conflict), the first genocide, industrial-strength slaughter and the cheapening of life, air power/tank warfare, the first shots in the Cold War(arguably)and(also arguably)the “worst peace treaty in modern history,” the Versailles settlements. That’’s just for starters. Class M.O…This is my first grad course, so it will necessarily be a work in progress, but I am sure that our joint efforts will make it a success. Here’s what I am thinking about organization : I will lead off each session with some brief remarks about the subject in question and/or show some relevant video—there’s too much good stuff out there not to. Then, one of you will present the week’s book and we’ll discuss the issues in question. On occasion, I will pitch in and present a book that’s hard to find or outrageously expensive. In addition, I will present from time to time video clips or and/ commentary to stress a point that might not be obvious from the reading. The Great War is SUCH a rich vein… I will come to Pullman at some point in the semester and have class with you there, preferably over some nice food. This will definitely be before the snow flies. In terms of written assignments, you will choose two required books, any two, on which to write a 2-3 page review identifying the major issue(s)they treat and evaluating how the authors succeeded or failed. And each person will identify an area of interest to explore in depth—as in, read 5-10 books—and write a New York Review of Books-style essay reviewing the topic(s) in question and the ways in which the authors approach it. Some possible areas of inquiry include: the changing nature of warfare, WMD in WWI, gender/role of women, propaganda and film(then and now), commemoration, impact of colonial or Dominion soldiers, during and after the war, the war on the American homefront, the making of new nations(Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Iraq), impact of the Russian revolution, accounting for and memorializing the missing, shell shock, “shot at dawn” cases, battlefield medicine and plastic surgery, the origins and history of the “unknown” soldier, poetry and poets in the Great War, Balfour declaration and the making of the postwar Middle East, the Armenian genocide(for example, how was this covered in America?) When you undertake this assignment, bear in mind that the centennial of this war is nearly upon us—August 2014 is less than two years away, so there will be a market for books, articles and briefer op-eds in the local newspapers. Why shouldn’t you get in on the action? My goals for this term are, in random order: a) to explore with you some of the major issues and controversies of the Great War; b) to introduce the newest materials and media on this conflict, so that you can teach this phenomenon competently and well, if you dare; c) to inspire you to do some great work on this period, whether it’s a book, article or just personal enlightenment; d) to convince you of the virtues of visiting the battlefields of the Great War, so as to personalize and deepen your connection with this most fundamental event in modern history.

History 455 syllabus part I, basic info...

The Lochnagar crater on the Somme battlefield near Albert, France. A bomb the British exploded beneath the German lines was responsible for this monster. History 455—The Great War Fall 2012 WSUTC B. Farley Office 207J West Building, Faculty Row/372-7357/email brigitf2001@yahoo.com, bfarley@tricity.wsu.edu Contact info: Non-virtual office hours are basically just before or after class, and then 3:15-4 pm, Mondays and Wednesdays. Virtual office hours anytime, 24/7. You can email me any time and I try to get back to you as soon as possible, ideally at least by the next day. I don’t like the phone because it disturbs the two octogenarians I live with. Readings: At least a part of the term's readings will be taken from an online World War I document archive based at Brigham Young University and the University of Kansas. One of the longer ones, the diary of Ambassador Morgenthau, you will read in its entirety. Besides the online material, you will have Martin Gilbert's history of World War I, a terrific basic source with a lot of great anecdotes and telling detail. In addition, we have the Penguin Book of First World War Poetry. You know this was an awful ordeal if it is a poetry war. Poetry tries to say what cannot be said. Finally, Peter Englund’s magnificent The Beauty and the Sorrow, a unique work on this war or any other. We will try a little experiment this semester: you will make your own arrangements for getting these books. You have several options: library, Powells, Amazon if you want bricks-and-mortar books. And except for Gilbert, you can get them for Kindle or Ipad/Iphone(download the Kindle App from the app store) or your tablet of choice. This ought to cut down on the cost at least a little bit. For THIS FIRST WEEK: Martin Gilbert text, chapters 1-3, beginnings. Also, Peter Englund, 1914, pp. 5-72, 1914.

Holocaust final...

Representations of the Holocaust/HUM 450/final paper, due in hard copy MONDAY, APRIL 30, between 5 and 6 pm, in my office…

Directions Part I: EVERYONE will do this one(60%)

Yaffa Eliach’s Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust is an unusual representation of the Holocaust in that they are based on real-life experiences, but infused with elements that place them somewhere between fiction and non-fiction. Choose four or five of your favorite tales and write an essay in which you explain how they affected your understanding of the war on the Jews. Conclude with or include in the body of your answer your best guess as to why these tales were composed, beyond their value as evidence of the Holocaust.


Directions Part II(40%): YOUR CHOICE. Answer ONE of the following, taking care to use specific examples from the films, videos, documentaries, readings, etc.:


Of the representations of the Holocaust we have evaluated this term—art, architecture, film, fiction, memoir, graphic novel, music, poetry and plain old documentary evidence—choose one or two and explain why it was effective in conveying some aspect of the Holocaust to you. Do NOT use Architecture of Doom or Maus, since you have already written about those.


A t-shirt on sale at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum proclaims, “What You Do Matters.” What lessons have you learned from studying the Holocaust that you can use in keeping The World, or your world, or both, safe from a similar outrage in the future?

Vietnam FINAL(!!!!!)

Without further ado, the second and final assignment for History 388...

History 388/Final exam/spring 2012, due in hard copy MONDAY, April 30, between 4:15 and 5pm in my office…

Directions: Answer BOTH questions in brilliantly conceived, cogently argued essays. Be sure to back up your points with specifics from the videos, readings, songs, and any personal reflection you have done…


1. The Vietnam conflict damaged the reputation of John F. Kennedy, drove Lyndon Johnson from office in despair and fatally distorted Richard Nixon’s judgment, destroying his Presidency in the Watergate scandal. In addition, it killed 58,000 young Americans, well over a million Vietnamese and inflicted deep wounds on the body politic of both nations. Why couldn’t(or wouldn’t) President Nixon or Johnson bring the war to a “successful” end, in spite of unparalleled tonnage of bombs, ground troops, billions of dollars and the latest in high-tech weaponry?

2. Few Americans felt the effects of the Vietnam war more keenly than the members of West Point’s class of l966. Review Rick Atkinson’s book The Long Gray Line, in particular the lives of John P. “Jack” Wheeler, George Crocker and Arthur Bonifas and write an essay in which you discuss how the Vietnam war affected their lives and careers after graduation from the Academy.

HUM 455, Second Response paper(!!)...

455/Representations of the Holocaust/Response Paper #2, due APRIL 18, 2012


I actually stole this assignment from Professor Doris Bergen—full credit to her!!--because I can’t think of a better way for us to interact with MAUS, the world’s lone graphic novel/comic book Holocaust memoir…


Imagine that you are an intern at a small Holocaust museum in the state of Washington. The director has arranged to host an exhibit of drawings from Art Spiegelman’s MAUS along with a public lecture by the artist. The staff and volunteers are excited about the event, but some donors and members of the local community are not happy. Your supervisor has passed on three of their letters to you and asked you to draft an answer to one of them, the rest to be assigned to other interns. One letter is from a Polish American furious at the way Spiegelman depicts Poles. How dare the museum promote such negative stereotypes, she wants to know. She threatens to organize a protest outside the museum. Another letter is from a Jewish Holocaust survivor. He is angry at how Spiegelman portrays Jews during the war as mice and Holocaust survivors as neurotic basket cases. This is no way to remember and honor those who suffered so much under the Nazis, he asserts. The third letter is from a disappointed middle school teacher. She is teaching a unit on comparative genocide and she wanted to bring her students to the Holocaust museum. Now she is worried that if the students see the Holocaust turned into a comic strip, they’ll never take it seriously. She also doesn’t like the exclusive focus on Jewish suffering. Her school has very few Jewish students, so how are her students supposed to relate to MAUS?

Choose ONE of these letters and draft a reply. If you find yourself unable to defend the exhibit, write a memo to your supervisor instead, in which you explain your reasons.

HUM 455, don't panic!

For all the Holocaust folks, don't panic, the essay on "Architecture of Doom" can't be due today because we haven't even finished watching it...we will reschedule the due date. TBA at present.

Sick!

I have been felled by a vicious cold and have had to surrender--no voice, stumbling around--so teaching today would be a gruesome exercise. See you all on Monday!

Holocaust response assignment

We will watch the Peter Cohen documentary, "Architecture of Doom," on February 15 in class. Here are the instructions for the response assignment you will tackle after viewing it:

Documentary films make a claim to present objective truths, like written documents. Peter Cohen, the director of “Architecture of Doom, “ uses actual footage from the l930s and 40s, quotes from historical records and documents, and describes actual events. In doing so, however, he presents a particular interpretation of National Socialism and makes arguments about its origins and the motives of its proponents. How do you understand Cohen’s interpretation? Which aspects of Nazism and the Holocaust does it help you understand? What objections can you make to Cohen’s interpretation? Overall, do you find it convincing? Be sure to use specific facts and scenes from the film in your answer.


Write your response—this is a “response” paper-- in a 3-5 page paper(ballpark), preferably typed, due Monday, February 27. There are no right or wrong answers—I will evaluate you on the basis of how clearly and effectively you present your response

Vietnam midterm questions...

Without further ado, the Vietnam midterm...the image you see above is the Vietnam Memorial Wall, taken by me with my back to the Korean War memorial.


History 388—US and Vietnam spring 2012
Midterm exam
For Wednesday, 29(!) February 2012

Directions Part I(100%): Prepare the following questions, taking care to support your statements with specific evidence from the lectures, readings, videos and any independent reflection you have done. You MIGHT get a chance to choose your question, but then again, I might reserve that right as class dictator, so make sure you know all three. Trust me, they WILL ask the one you don’t do!

1. One of the architects of the Vietnam war, JFK/LBJ Defense Secretary Robert Strange McNamara, listed as one of his life lessons, “Empathize with your enemy” in a conflict or war. You are an advisor to McNamara and the year is l961, the year JFK came to office. Adopting the perspective of the Viet Minh leadership, write a profile of the group for McNamara, including what conditions in the country account for their appearance, what their objectives are and why they seem to be so popular among ordinary Vietnamese. Conclude by describing how they view Diem and the United States, and what you believe the United States should do about them.

2.As a senator, President John F. Kennedy visited Vietnam in the last years of the Viet Minh’s war with the French. He and his brother Robert declared that the US should not stand in the way of “rekindled nationalism” and criticized their father and others who had backed the re-imposition of French rule on Vietnam after the war. Yet this was the same John Kennedy who told his advisers in l962 that United States foreign policy” must be credible” and the “place to make it credible is Vietnam.” Write an essay in which you explain why changed his mind, and what measures he took to prevent a Ho Chi Minh victory there.

3.Ngo Dinh Diem was the United States’ choice to head an anti-Communist south Vietnamese government. On paper, he was a good candidate: he was intelligent, well-spoken, religious and knowledgeable about his patron, the United States. President Eisenhower and others hoped that he would convince the Vietnamese to reject Ho Chi Minh and embrace the US-backed anti-Communist government. Why were Diem and his government unsuccessful in this?

Questions about Nazis and the arts

Today's class features a documentary about an exhibit of art the Nazis viewed as "degenerate." This is a good way to approach the Nazi world view, i.e. by analyzing what they viewed as unacceptable and why, and then what they liked and approved of and why. Here are some questions/exercises to guide your thinking on this:


What did Hitler have against the artists labeled “degenerate”?

How would you define “degenerate?”

What does HIS choice of art tell you about him and the Nazi party?

Why would the Nazis, or any dictatorship, hate “modern” art?

Based on their preferred art, how would you describe the Nazi world view? What are their priorities?

Bring in for next time(you can find lots of art online)an example of art the Nazis would've approved of and/or one which they would have labeled "degenerate" or otherwise unacceptable.

Today's room for HUM 450

Folks, today we will be exiled to East 207 again...we have the Auditorium only on Wednesdays in February, but every day in March and April...hooray!

Snow day!

Hey everybody, it's truly atrocious out there, so I am not driving today, and you shouldn't either if you don't have to. Unfortunately, we have a frozen sleet mess, so there's no good sledding/skiing...maybe curl up with one of the Vietnam or Holocaust readings, or just pulp fiction, whatever, stay off the roads!!

HUM 455, Representations of the Holocaust

Hum 455
Representations of the Holocaust
Spring ‘12
B. Farley/brigitf2001@yahoo.com/bfarley@tricity.wsu.edu 541-276-6962 OFFICE HOURS 3:30-4:15 m-w, 24/7 in cyberspace. I MUCH PREFER email, in fact i HATE the phone and will always try to answer email as soon as possible. PLEASE send email to both addresses, so that I will receive it at ONE of them.

“What you do matters.” Unofficial motto of the United States Holocaust Museum, Washington DC

Welcome to Humanities 455, Representations of the Holocaust. This will not be the most light-hearted course you will ever take, but you will emerge from it wiser, in the sense that you will witness the best and worst that your fellow humans are capable of. At least, that’s the way I have learned to think about it. “Representations” is a Humanities course, taught primarily in past years from the standpoint of literature by Dr. Len Orr. Because I work in history, I will be teaching the course as primarily a history offering, all the while broadening its emphasis to include a variety of media and sources. In other words, we will examine the Holocaust historically, using and analyzing different media and sources in our journey, to include fiction, music, film and art in addition to the usual secondary readings, testimonies and documents/documentaries. The exams and exercises will offer options for those of you who have had the temerity to major in something else than history(cue the laugh track here, haha—there wont be many laughs when the course is underway).
This is my first time teaching the Holocaust, and I am sure it will show from time to time…I ask your patience and forbearance as we move through this dark wood together.

Goals: It is always desirable to have goals, whether you’re a triathlete, writer, student or professor. I have these as a foundation for us this term:

--to deepen our understanding of the events and experiences known as the Holocaust;

--per the course title, to examine and analyze representations of the Holocaust in diverse media, then and now
--
--to attempt some conclusions about what the Holocaust means to the world, 70 years on. How has the physical, moral, social and political landscape changed because of it?

--time permitting, to consider how and why people commemorate the Holocaust around the world, also why some individuals want the world to believe that it is a giant hoax, that it never really happened.

Invaluable resource: Whatever you are looking for in terms of course content, you will find it and so much more at ushmm.org, the official website for the United States Holocaust Museum. If I win the lottery, I will take us all there for spring break, but in case I don’t, the website is just outstanding. We’ll be leaning on it heavily all term long.

Readings: There are four required works for the course, all available in a number of venues: Art Spiegelman’s Maus, a unique comic book/graphic novel meditation on his own family’s history in the Holocaust; Yaffa Eliach, Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust, a collection of short stories based on survivor tales recorded by the author in the nursing homes of Brooklyn, NY; Gerda Weissman-Klein, All But My Life, a classic memoir by a survivor of the Holocaust, and Gita Sereny’s Into that Darkness, which will give you some good insight into the people who populated the Nazi killing machine and their motives. Unfortunately, they’re not very different from people you know here and now. You would like to think they are monsters.

Evaluation: You will have ample opportunity to showcase your strengths this semester. There will be a map quiz(20%), 2 response papers on “Maus,” Art Spiegelman’s unique take(a COMIC BOOK?!) on the Holocaust(20% each), and Peter Cohen’s “ documentary, “Architecture of Doom,” and a final exam, which will have take-home and in-class components(60%). There may be an additional option for those who want to pursue an aspect of the Holocaust in depth…details to follow.

Invaluable resource: Whatever you are looking for in terms of course content and/or personal interest, you will find it and so much more at ushmm.org, the official website for the United States Holocaust Museum. If I win the lottery, I will take us all there for spring break, but in case I don’t, the website is just outstanding. We’ll be leaning on it heavily all term long.

Caveats: Just a couple I am not in the habit of banning anything, but I want to discourage strongly the use of the words “inevitable” and “tragedy” in this course. This is because there was nothing “inevitable” about the Holocaust, and “tragedy” is probably the most overused term on the planet when it comes to describing this series of events. Maybe we can find some new, more appropriate vocabulary in our attempts to characterize it.

Second, this course is infused with upsetting subject matter, to put it mildly. I strongly advise you to avoid reading or thinking about it at night, as I have found in preparing it that it can and will invade your sleep. Three times recently, I have worked on the course in the evening, and twice I have had disturbing dreams, one about being discovered hiding Jews and the other about being arrested as a partisan and sent to Auschwitz. This material WILL affect you, so try to work on it only in the daylight and in small increments of time and attention.

Important announcement: The Nazis had no use for differently-abled people—in fact, they murdered, “mercy-killed,” a lot of them. If you weren’t a perfect physical specimen, too bad for you. At WSUTC, and in the United States generally by contrast, we welcome them and want them to succeed. And thus this Note from Disability Resources: Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have a documented disability. Classroom accommodation forms are available through the Disability Services Office. If you have a documented disability (even temporary) make an appointment as soon as possible with the Disability Services Coordinator Cherish Tijerina room 269 West Building. You will need to provide your instructor with the appropriate classroom accommodation form from Disability Services during the first week of class. Late notification may mean that requested accommodations might not be available. All accommodations for disabilities must be approved through the Disability Services Coordinator.

Schedule of topics…it’s impossible to know now how long each will take, so we will drive on through and see where we are at the end of April. Some of the films are tentative, too…in fact, most of the course will be TBA in this first incarnation. One thing for sure, it will not be boring or predictable.

Part I: Preconditions

Background to an outrage: antisemitism, racism, imperialism , war
Readings: Start Spiegelman, chapter 1; assorted documents TBA

Map quiz after this section…

Part II: Spark

Antisemitism in power: Nazi Germany, from theory to practice, l933-38
Readings: Sereny, part I, Spiegelman, chapter 2
Documentary film: Architecture of Doom
Other media TBA, e.g. possibly “Paragraph l74, “ about the persecution of homosexuals under the Nazis and/or Stand Firm, a film about the sufferings of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Nazi Germany.

First response paper due, on “Architecture of Doom.”

Radicalization and war, l938-39
Readings: Sereny, part II; Weissman-Klein, part I, chapters 1-8; Spiegelman, chapter 3
Film: Stand Firm
Other media TBA, including Nazi anti-handicapped films.

Part III: Inferno

Life and death under Nazi occupation: Poland and Russia
Readings: Eliach, Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust, all; continue with Weissman-Klein, part II, chapters 1-5; Sereny, part III; Spiegelman, chapter 4
Documentary film: Weapons of the Spirit
Film: “Come and See(excerpts)”
Music: Dmitrii Shostakovich, Symphony # 13, “Babi Yar,” with accompanying poem by Evgenii Evtushenko.
Other media TBA


From experimentation to systematic annihilation
Readings: Sereny, part IV, Weissman –Klein, part II, chapters 6-11; Spiegelman, chapters 4-5; others TBA
Film: Sarah’s Key(about the fate of French Jews, a horrifying story)

The concentration camp universe
Readings: finish Sereny and Weissman-Klein; finish Spiegelman.
Visual Arts: the drawings of Miriam Greenstein, survivor of Auschwitz

Second response paper due after this section, on Maus.

Rescue and resistance
Readings: TBA
Film: Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg

Part IV: Embers

Gotterdammerrung and aftermath
Readings: TBA
Music: various selections from Richard Wagner; should musicians be banned for their views?

70 years after the debut of the “Final Solution:” how and where to remember?
Readings: TBA.

History 388, US and Vietnam...

History 388
U.S. and Vietnam
Spring 2012
B. Farley

Basic info: Office 207j West Building/Office phone: 372-7357/Home phone 541-276-6962. EMAIL: brigitf2001@yahoo.com OR bfarley@tricity.wsu.edu. Call me at home or the office if you must, but I prefer email and will always try to answer anything by the next day.
OFFICE HOURS (on campus): Monday and Wednesday, 330-4:15, just before 5:45 class, just after 5:45 class. OFFICE HOURS in cyberspace: 24/7.

Course intro
Welcome to US and Vietnam. I offer the same caveats to you as I did the previous times I taught this course: I am not an expert in Vietnamese or Chinese history, far from it, but I know this conflict well from the perspective of the Cold War, and from personal experience. One of my babysitters was the first and only man from Pendleton, Oregon (my home town) killed in action there. As a grade schooler, I witnessed some fearsome arguments about the nature of that war, and watched my father write conscientious objector letters for students as a close family friend opted out of the draft for residence in Canada. Afterwards, both his family and ours got regular “visits” from the FBI, a real pleasure. I am certain they even tapped our home phone. I loved the college student protesters because I believed that kids ought to be able to storm the teachers’ rooms and “tear down the walls.” I’ve had a change of heart on that one since I went to the other side of the pedestal, but I remember that time fondly even so.
So you could say this course is unusually personal for me.
It would be impossible to overstate the importance of this war, how it started. It had tragic beginnings, in that the north Vietnamese leader, Ho Chi Minh, looked for an alliance rather than a war with the United States. Its escalation came as a result of the USA/USSR world rivalry, in spite of numerous warnings about interfering with what was essentially a civil war, Vietnamese vs. Vietnamese. Once it was escalated, no one could figure out how to win it, short of “making it a wilderness and calling it peace.” In the meantime, 58,000 young Americans were losing their lives. Many more were being wounded or maimed.
In addition, Americans discovered some truths that resonate today. Presidents in the Vietnam years lied about the rationale for and progress of the war, so that now everyone tends to look skeptically at what the President says. Presidents in the Vietnam years could not gracefully extricate themselves from disaster and left thousands of troops for years in a conflict they could not win. Now there is great anxiety and angst about using American power; every intervention is reflexively labeled a “quagmire.” As an unpopular war, Vietnam got its manpower from a draft riddled with exemptions for those in college and/or with good lawyers or connections. That caused a terrible division in the country, embittering those who served or saw relatives die against those who escaped service. Just ask President Clinton and every other candidate for President in recent elections. “What did you do in Vietnam” has now become a standard question in presidential campaigns, most recently in the January 7 Republican debate in New Hampshire(Ron Paul attacking Newt Gingrich). Finally, the groundswell of opposition to the war that hit the streets shocked many Americans, who felt that the protesters were aiding and abetting the enemy. The protesters maintained that patriotic Americans opposed bad policies rather than going along silently. Thus began the “America, love it or leave it” debate. We are currently reliving this and other issues, at least to some extent, as a result of the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan.
A lot of people have begun drawing comparisons between the war in Afghanistan and the Vietnam war, e.g. that Afghanistan is “another Vietnam.” We will collectively try to determine whether this comparison has any validity. What exactly IS another Vietnam?!
Oh, and did I remember to say that Vietnam produced some great, great music? Well, it produced some great, great music. We will hear a good sampling of it.
The famous war correspondent, Michael Herr, famously said, “Vietnam, Vietnam. We’ve all been there.” Truer words were never spoken.

Readings
There are a lot of great books about Vietnam, and these are just a small sample. They were chosen to represent a diversity of views and issues. Stanley Karnow’s text is the standard work and treats all aspects of the war factually and well. Rick Atkinson’s moving study of the West Point class of l966, The Long Gray Line, takes you through the l960s and Vietnam through the eyes of young men who had to go lead troops there. They entered West Point just as the war began to heat up, when everything seemed clear and stark, went to fight in that most unclear conflict and emerged very much changed by the experience—if they survived. Their class lost more men in the war than any class before or after them. Philip Caputo’s A Rumor of War is somewhat similar, though it is a work of fiction and confined to the main character’s experience in the Marines in Vietnam. It’s a very compelling story, another journey from Mom and Apple Pie and “good” wars to the shadowy, deadly ambiguousness of Vietnam. Finally, David Maraniss’s They Marched into Sunlight. Maraniss shows you like no one else how corrosive and divisive this war became on the home front, as it destroyed hundreds of fine young Americans in southeast Asia each week. They Marched into Sunlight shows you the tragic events of one weekend in October l967 as they played out in Vietnam and the campus of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. There are few more moving books on this war.

GOALS…I will be happy if you can identify some of the reasons that led the United States to intervene in the Vietnamese civil war, trace the slippery slope leading to its escalation, and talk coherently about the difficulties of getting out after l968. Everyone should also be able to cite two or three ways in which the Vietnam war has affected American history and culture. And you should decide about the “lessons of Vietnam. “ Never to intervene in overseas civil conflicts? Not to fear victory? Always to use overwhelming force? To protest foreign wars at home? Never to protest foreign wars at home? That “real” patriots criticize their country? That “real” patriots do NOT criticize their country? That one should love America or leave it? That Afghanistan 2012 is just like Vietnam 1968?
You tell me.

Class Procedures
We will have two exams, one in February and one at the end of the course. I will talk about the third assignment a few days after we begin the course.

Miscellaneous but Important
Any sort of cheating—copying, lifting material off the internet or any printed source without attributing it, using notes when notes are forbidden—will be dealt with to the full extent of university law. Just don’t do it.

On a more positive note: if you have a disability that makes the usual class routine difficult, no problem, we can work out any special requirements you have. A Note from Disability Resources: Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have a documented disability. Classroom accommodation forms are available through the Disability Services Office. If you have a documented disability (even temporary) make an appointment as soon as possible with the Disability Services Coordinator Cherish Tijerina room 269 West Building. You will need to provide your instructor with the appropriate classroom accommodation form from Disability Services during the first week of class. Late notification may mean that requested accommodations might not be available. All accommodations for disabilities must be approved through the Disability Services Coordinator.

Schedule

Part I: Prelude to a catastrophe

History matters: scenes from Vietnamese life, 5th century-l850

The Vietnamese and the “civilizing” French.

Young man on a mission: Ho Chi Minh

The struggle for Vietnam, l920-l940

World War II and double foreign occupation, l940-l945

Communists and resistance

Enter the Cold War…

The French Indochina War

Dienbienphu

Readings: Karnow, Vietnam: A History, pp. 1-221; Atkinson, the Long Gray Line, pt 1.
Recommended readings: Bernard Fall, Hell in a Very Small Place, about the French disaster at Dienbienphu. A classic. Also, Graham Greene, The Quiet American. This is a work of fiction, but it is a great insight into the American mindset prior to America’s involvement in Vietnam.

Part II: The US and Vietnam, part I: from advisers to groundpounders

After Geneva: (Now) what to do about Vietnam?

Options for Ike

“Helping:” covert intervention and regime change

“Our Man” in Vietnam: Diem and his bizarre entourage

Ho Chi Minh and north Vietnam after Geneva: outlines of a civil war

JFK and Vietnam: before the Bay of Pigs

JFK and Vietnam: post Bay of Pigs

Two assassinations

Readings: Karnow, pp. 229-327; Atkinson, The Long Gray Line, part II; start Caputo, A Rumor of War.
Recommended readings: Arthur Schlesinger, A Thousand Days. Schlesinger was the “court historian” for JFK and had an insider’s view of Vietnam and other policies.

Midterm exam (covers all material to this point).

“Mr. Johnson’s War,” l964-l968

Lyndon Johnson and the Kennedy legacy, “outKennedying Kennedy.”

The Tonkin Gulf and troops in the field

Carrot, Stick, Bomb

“Government by turnstile:” America’s allies in turmoil

“We have to do more.” American troops head to Vietnam

You Are There in Vietnam: what US troops faced in the jungle, and in prison

The “light at the end of the tunnel” and the shock of the Tet Offensive, l968

Readings (offline): Karnow, pp. 335-580, Atkinson, part III; continue with Caputo; Maraniss, They Marched into Sunlight, all.
Recommended readings: Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream. Doris Kearns was a White House Fellow in the LBJ “second term” and witnessed the impact on him of deepening involvement in Vietnam. Also, if you have ever wondered how college students could rouse themselves to hit the streets and take over campus buildings in protest of the war, read James Simon Kunen, The Strawberry Statement. Finally, on a more modern note, Karl Marlantes, Matterhorn. This was named one of the best books of 2010…it is a fictionalized account of Marlantes’ service as a Marine captain, like Caputo’s, but is especially good at conveying the sense of futility that many US servicemen felt in the Vietnam conflict.

“Mr. Nixon’s War,” l968-l974

“Bring us together.” Richard Nixon’s campaign of l968

The student movement gathers momentum

America love it or leave it!? Nixon supporters vs. the war protesters

Shrinking and expanding the war: Vietnamization and the Cambodian incursions

The war invades campuses: from protests to shootings

Winding down in Vietnam, winding up at home: how Vietnam helped bring on Watergate

The aftermath: Watergate, Saigon, Cambodia

Readings (offline): finish Karnow; finish Atkinson and Caputo.
Recommended readings: C.D.B. Bryan, Friendly Fire. Probably the best of the Vietnam books, this work is about Michael Mullen, a Ph.D candidate in agricultural chemistry and the hope of the future for his farm family. He was drafted into the Army, then killed in Vietnam in February l970 by an errant US artillery shell, “friendly” fire. It took his family three years to get the Army to tell them the whole truth, during which time they lost their once-unquestioning faith in, and in fact turned against, America and its government.

Second exam (covers “Mr. Johnson’s war” and “Mr. Nixon’s war.”)

Long Time Passing: The Vietnam war l975-present

The saga of the Vietnam wall