Course Welcome, Spring 2024

Hello and welcome to the course! Learn about your instructor here.

Our first class meeting will take place Tues, Jan 16 in Sullivan Academic Center, Room 326.

Please make sure you do the following in Week 1.

  • Read the syllabus. Several times.
  • Familiarize yourself with the Blackboard set-up and bookmark the course website.
  • Obtain the textbook by Glatthaar, The American Military: A Concise History — from campus bookstore or rent/buy online.
  • Download the 2-volume textbook, American Military History as free PDFs — see links in this website’s sidebar or under “Getting Started” on Blackboard.
  • Contribute to the Hello discussion board by 11:59 pm on Jan 19.
  • Read the assigned chapters for Jan 16 and 18. Take notes and define the syllabus terms as you read.
  • Sign up to present 2 different chapters, on the Google spreadsheet linked on Blackboard and the course website, by Jan 19 at 11:59 pm.
  • Got questions? Put them on the Questions and Answers discussion board, message me from Blackboard, or text / email me using the contact information in the syllabus

Finally, yes — this class has a GIGANTIC reading load. I’ve identified key terms within each chapter on the syllabus for each day, which should help you know what to look for as you read, and the peer chapter presentations and class note-taking starting next week will also help make sense of the readings. I’ll have more to say about how to read the textbooks in our early days together — don’t let the length of these books concern you too much at this point.