Faculty Publications

The Combat Syllabus: Life, Death, and Books

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Combat syllabus, US Marine Corps, assemblage, imperialism

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Theory & Event

Volume

26

Issue

3

First Page

449

Last Page

471

Abstract

This article analyzes what junior officers in the US military read, why such readings are assigned, and how such reading may influence the project of war itself. The main concern of this article is to scrutinize a specific cultural artifact of US imperialism. What books are junior officers in the United States military required to read? Why are they assigned these specific books? How do such readings relate to the project of empire itself? I focus on books assigned to junior officers because these are the under-analyzed military leaders most closely involved with the actual brutality of war. This "combat syllabus" fills a need for the production of both war and warriors within the assemblage of US imperialism.

Department

Department of Political Science

Original Publication Date

7-1-2023

DOI of published version

10.1353/tae.2023.a901573

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