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Spring 2019
War Music
Covering
Conflict in the Age of Forever War
Spring 2019 /
Journalism 294 / Mondays 3 – 6 / North Gate 209
Mark Danner
How to cover
conflict when war has become “forever war,” a state of persistent hostility
that lurks day after day, month after month, year after year behind the news?
When war no longer describes a struggle leading toward victory or defeat but a
frozen process that persists indefinitely? This is the world journalists face
in the age of the terror, drones and the “light footprint.” In this seminar we
will study this age of persistent conflict, analyze its sources, and read the
best that has been written about it. We will debate and discuss the War on
Terror, the Yemeni Civil War, the rise of special operators and drone warfare
in Africa. The class will be organized around reading and discussion. We will
screen a film or two and requirements will include a final paper.
Class Requirements This
seminar will be a mixture of lectures and discussion, backed up by a large
amount of reading and some writing. The most important requirements are that
students
*Attend
all class sessions
*Keep
up with reading and writing assignments
*Participate
in discussions
*Deliver
at least one presentation to the class
*Deliver a final paper of twelve pages
A
student’s record of attendance and participation in class discussion, together
with the quality of his or her writing, will determine the success of our class
and contribute the better part of the grade.
Schedule Note that classes will
meet Mondays at 2 pm in North Gate 106.
Reading Our primary reading
will draw largely from a number of books of foreign reporting, classic and
contemporary. They are listed below. I strongly urge you to obtain these books
in your own copies and in the edition specified, either from local bookstores
or from online suppliers, so that you will be able to highlight and annotate
them.
Tracking the News A
significant part of the class will be given over to tracking and discussing war
reporting and US foreign policy as it takes shape around conflict. Following
these events closely in various publications, beginning with the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other newspapers and websites, and getting to
know the work of the leading contemporary war correspondents, is essential.
Even if you are not a habitual newspaper reader, you must become one for this
class. I also strongly recommend you take account of various periodicals,
including Foreign Policy and The Long War Journal.
Presentations Each
student will make a presentation in class on the work of a given war reporter,
ideally one working now. I encourage you to get in touch with the correspondent
and conduct an interview. The class will read at least one major work by the
correspondent. Use of multimedia and social media during the presentation is
strongly encouraged.
Writing Depending on response
to the reading there may be an occasional in-class quiz. There will likely be a
final paper of twelve pages on one of the wars or reporters we take up in this
class; it is possible there will be a final exam instead.
To bolster the clarity and vigor of your
English prose, I strongly suggest studying two works: George Orwell’s essay,
“Politics and the English Language,” which can be readily found on the web, and
Strunk and White’s little manual, The
Elements of Style.
Office Hours I will
count on meeting with each of you individually at least once during the course
of the term. We will make these appointments on an ad hoc basis. I am best reached via email, at mark@markdanner.com.
My office is North Gate 32. My writing, speaking and other information can be
found at my website, markdanner.com.
Grading Students will be
graded on their preparedness and their participation in class, the strength of
their presentations and the quality of their written work, as follows:
Attendance 25 percent
Participation 25 percent
Presentation 25 percent
Writing 25 percent
Those
who miss multiple classes will not do well in this course.
Films During the semester we should
be screening a number of films that bear closely on the subject of covering
wars. We will hope to find an evening that works for everyone.
Syllabus and Texts Note
the list of assignments and books below will certainly change during the
semester. Many books we will read in
excerpt, not in full. As the semester progresses some articles will replace
books or supplement them.
Required
Texts
Svetlana
Alexievich, Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices
from the Afghanistan War (Norton, 1992)
C.J.
Chivers, The Fighters: Americans in
Combat in Afghanistan and Iraq (Simon & Schuster, 2018)
Marie
Colvin, On the Front Line: The Collected
Journalism of Marie Colvin (Harper, 2012)
Paul
Conroy, Under the Wire: Marie Colvin’s
Final Assignment (Weinstein, 2013)
Mark
Danner, Stripping Bare the Body: Politics
Violence War (Nation, 2009)
Carlotta Gall, The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan,
2001 – 2014 (Mariner, 2014)
Hugh Gusterson, Drone: Remote Control Warfare (MIT,
2016)
Tim Judah, In Wartime: Stories from Ukraine
(Duggan, 2015)
Robert D. Kaplan, Asia’s Cauldron: The South China Sea and the
End of a Stable Pacific (Random House, 2014)
Jeffrey
Lewis, The 2020 Commission Report on the
North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States (Mariner, 2018)
Jane
Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of
How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals (Anchor, 2009)
Jason K. Stearns, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa (PublicAffairs, 2012)
Joby
Warrick, Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS (Doubleday,
2015)
Lawrence
Wright, The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and
the Road to 9/11 (Vintage, 2006)
Robin
Yassin-Kassab and Leila Al-Shami, Burning
Country: Syrians in Revolution and War (Pluto, 2016)
Tentative Syllabus
Note the emphasis here on “tentative” syllabus,
for list will change during the semester and likely some books will replace others
January
28 – Introduction. The Classroom and the Battlefield. The Current State of
Foreign Wars. Wars Coups Revolutions. What’s Been Written. Writing With Your
Ears. Long and Medium Form. An Approach to a Format. Long, Medium, Short.
Presentations: Getting to Know a Correspondent and Her Work. Work Shop.
Film: Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of
Algiers
February 4 – Marie Colvin, On The Front Lines: The Collected Journalism of Marie Colvin (Harper, 2012)
Paul Conroy, Under the Wire: Marie Colvin’s Final Assignment (Weinstein, 2013)
February 11 – Mark Danner, Stripping Bare the Body: Politics Violence War (Nation, 2009), excerpts.
February
18 – President’s Day (No Class)
February 25 –Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage, 2006)
March 4 – Carlotta Gall, The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001 –2014 (Mariner, 2014)
vetlana Alexievich, Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War (Norton, 1992)
March 11 – Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals (Anchor, 2009)
Mark Danner, Stripping Bare the Body: Politics Violence War (Nation, 2009), excerpts.
March 18 – C.J. Chivers, The Fighters: Americans in Combat in Afghanistan and Iraq (Simon & Schuster, 2018)
March
25 – Spring Recess (No Class)
April 1 –Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila Al-Shami, Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War (Pluto, 2016)
April
8 – Joby Warrick, Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS (Doubleday, 2015)
April 15 – Hugh Gusterson, Drone:
Remote Control Warfare (MIT, 2016)
April
22 – Tim Judah, In Wartime: Stories from Ukraine (Duggan, 2015)
April 29 – Robert D. Kaplan, Asia’s Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific (Random House, 2014)
May 6 – Jeffrey Lewis, The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States (Mariner, 2018)
Annotated
Syllabus
January 28 – Introduction. The Classroom and the
Battlefield. The Current State of Foreign Wars. Wars Coups Revolutions. What’s
Been Written. Writing With Your Ears. Long and Medium Form. An Approach to a
Format. Long, Medium, Short. Presentations: Getting to Know a Correspondent and
Her Work. Work Shop.
Film:
Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers
February 4 – Marie Colvin, On The Front Lines: The Collected Journalism of Marie Colvin (Harper, 2012)
Paul Conroy, Under the Wire: Marie Colvin’s Final
Assignment
(Weinstein, 2013)
February 11 – Mark Danner, Stripping Bare the Body: Politics Violence War (Nation, 2009), excerpts.
February 18 – President’s Day (No Class)
February 25 –Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage, 2006)
March 4 – Carlotta Gall, The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001 – 2014 (Mariner, 2014)
March 11 – Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals (Anchor, 2009)
Mark Danner, Stripping Bare the Body: Politics Violence War
(Nation, 2009), excerpts.
March 18 – C.J. Chivers, The Fighters: Americans in Combat in Afghanistan and Iraq (Simon & Schuster, 2018)
March 25 – Spring Recess (No Class)
April 1 –Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila Al-Shami, Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War (Pluto, 2016)
April 8 – Joby Warrick, Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS (Doubleday, 2015)
April
15 – Hugh
Gusterson, Drone: Remote Control Warfare (MIT,
2016)
April 22 – Tim Judah, In
Wartime: Stories from Ukraine (Duggan, 2015)
April 29 – Robert D. Kaplan, Asia’s Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific (Random House, 2014)
May 6 – Jeffrey Lewis, The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States (Mariner, 2018)