POLISCI 22SC The Face of Battle


Scott Sagan and Joseph Felter Department of Political Science, Freeman Spogli Institute-CISAC


their objectives and what strategies were developed to meet them? This top-down perspective slights the experience of the actual combatants and non-combatants caught in the crossfire. This course focuses on the complexity of the process by which strategy is translated into tactical decisions by the officers and foot soldiers on the field of battle. We will focus on three battles in American history: Gettysburg (July 1863), the Battle of Little Bighorn (June 1876), and the Korengal Valley campaign in Afghanistan (2006-2010). In addition to reading major works on these battles and the conflicts in which they occurred, we will travel to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the Little Bighorn battlefield in Montana. The course’s battlefield tours are based on the “staff rides” developed by the Prussian Army in the mid- 1800s and employed by the U.S. Army since the early 1900s. While at Stanford, students will conduct extensive research on individual participants at Gettysburg and Little Bighorn. Then, as we walk through the battlefield sites, students will brief the group on their subjects’ experience of battle and on why they made the decisions they did during the conflict. Why did Lt. General Longstreet oppose the Confederate attack on the Union Army at Gettysburg? What was the experience of a military surgeon on a Civil War battlefield? Why did Custer divide his 7th Cavalry troops as they approached the Little Bighorn River? What was the role of Lakota Sioux women after a battle? Travel will be provided and paid by Sophomore College (except incidentals) and is made possible by the support of the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). The course is open to students from a range of disciplines; an interest in the topic is the only prerequisite.


O Scott D. Sagan


is the Caroline S.G. Munro Professor of Political Science and Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation. He is a specialist on nuclear weapons and international security and the recipient of four major teaching awards. His distant relative, Major General George E. Pickett, led the final Confederate charge at Gettysburg. More


Joseph H. Felter is a senior research scholar at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). He is a specialist on counterinsurgency and counterterrorism. Before coming to Stanford, he served as a career U.S. Army Special Forces officer with operational combat deployments to Panama, Iraq, and Afghanistan. More


ur understanding of warfare often derives from the lofty perspective of political leaders and generals: what were


ETHICSOC 10SC The Meaning of Life: Moral and Spiritual Inquiry Through Literature


Scotty McLennan, Dean for Religious Life Program in Ethics in Society


to be studied are F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara, Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha, Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, and Nadine Gordimer’s The Late Bourgeois World. We will read for plot, setting, character, and theme using a two- text method — looking at the narrative of the literary work and students’ own lives — rather than either deconstructing the literature or relating it to the author’s biography and psychology. The questions we will ask have many answers. Why are we here? How do we find meaningful work? What can death teach us about life? What is the meaning of success? What is the nature of true love? How can one find balance between work and personal life? How free are we to seek our own destiny? What obligations do we have to others? We will draw from literature set in the United States and elsewhere; secular and religious world views from a variety of traditions will be considered. The authors chosen are able to hold people up as jewels to the light, turning them around to show all of their facets, both blemished and pure, while at the same time pointing to any internal glow beneath the surface. Classes will be taught in a Socratic, discussion-based style. Study questions will accompany each reading and provide a foundation for class discussion. Grading will be based 50 percent on class participation, 25 percent on one-page reflection papers on reading assignments, and 25 percent on a four-page final paper due on September 19. Field trips will include an overnight camping experience.


S Scotty McLennan,


Dean for Religious Life, is an ordained minister and an attorney. He taught previously at Tufts University and the Harvard Business School. His books include Finding Your Religion: When the Faith You Grew Up With Has Lost Its Meaning and Jesus Was a Liberal: Reclaiming Christianity for All. More


hort novels and plays will provide the basis for reflection on ethical values and the purpose of life. Some of the works


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