Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point | 
| Author: Elizabeth D. Samet
Publisher: Picador
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 70227
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 0312427824
Dewey Decimal Number: 355
EAN: 9780312427825
ASIN: 0312427824
Publication Date: September 30, 2008
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Product Description
Includes a New Afterword by the Author
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
A USA Today Best Book of 2007
A Christian Science Monitor Best Book of 2007
What does it mean to teach literature to a soldier? How does it prepare a young man or woman for combat? At West Point, Elizabeth Samet reads classic and modern works of literature with America's future military elite, and in this stirring memoir she chronicles the ways in which war has transformed her relationship to the books she and her students read together. While fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, Samet's former students share their thoughts on the poetry of Wallace Stevens, the fiction of Virginia Woolf and J. M. Coetzee, the epics of Homer, and the films of Bogart and Cagney. And their letters in turn prompt Samet to wonder exactly what she owes to cadets in the classroom. Soldier's Heart is an honest and original reflection on the relationship between art and life.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 Not really a memoir, but an excellent book September 25, 2008
I read a lot of military memoirs. Here's a well-written book about all the fresh-faced young men and women who will - and now do - lead our modern army, and how they change as they progress through West Point and then go out into the frightening world of modern warfare in "the Ghan" or the "sandbox." Samet, Harvard and Yale educated, knows her literature and she uses it well in trying to produce well-rounded young officers. From Pericles & Plutrarch, Homer, Shakespeare and Malory all the way down to Randall Jarrell and John Irving - she uses them all as tools to make her young charges think, in the classrooms of "the last outpost," as she calls the English Department, which is apparently set somewhat apart from the main campus. "Yet we are, in our remoteness," she notes, "on our best days a place where curiosity and imagination can find refuge." Her methods must work, because Samet keeps in touch with her former students, and their letters are windows into their thoughts. These former cadets are no military automotons. They are "thinkers." I actually read this book last year, and was recently reminded of it while reading Bill Murphy Jr's book, IN A TIME OF WAR, about the USMA Class of 2002. Some of the people in Murphy's book probably once sat in Elizabeth Samet's English classes. Murphy's book will make you weep. Samet's will at times do the same, but it also makes you think, just like her lectures made her students think. As a female and a civilian in a military male-dominated place, Samet has a unique perspective, and one that is worth reading. This book is labeled a memoir, but there is very little about Samet's own life here, aside from a few tantalizing glimpses. That part of the book - the personal side - could have been fleshed out some; I think it might have made the book even better. Nevertheless, this is a very good book. - Tim Bazzett, author of Soldier Boy: At Play in the ASA
Humanizing Our Soldiers through Literature August 3, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
I met Professor Elizabeth Samet a few months ago when she came to Boston to do a reading and book-signing of her new work: "Soldier's Heart - Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point." One of her students, now 2LT David Addams, told me that I would enjoy meeting her and reading her book. Lieutenant Addams was right on both counts. Dr. Samet is a bit of an enigma; she is a civilian professor with solid Ivy League credentials - Harvard and Yale - who has chosen to teach at a military academy. In this book, she blends together artfully the worlds of literature with the world of a warrior.
Professor Samet chronicles her process of acclimating herself to the unique West Point culture and ethos. She describes Dan, one of her colleagues in the Department of English: "Dan's speech is a wonderfully improbable amalgamation of the scatological and the academic. He wrestles with philosophical theories as if they are calves to be roped or deer to be butchered." (Pages 6-7)
Samet does a nice job of highlighting some of the ways in which West Point is unlike most institutions of higher learning, especially with regard to the relationship between the Academy and the parents of cadets:
"Organized parental visitations have always struck me as somewhat infantilizing. I remember my mother and father going to elementary school, even high school, open houses, but they never met any of my college professors, nor did they know the names of the courses they were paying for. Mine are not parents anyone would call uninterested, but there was a stage after which it became unseemly to manifest their interest on site. Yet my parents didn't drop me off at Harvard Yard for freshman orientation with the fear that I might one day be returned to them in a flag-draped coffin. One of my former students, Joey, while serving with the Old Guard in Washington, D.C., routinely escorted such coffins from Dover Air Force Base, and he has told me it is the most difficult assignment he's had, more brutal in its way than his tour in Iraq. The administration of the Academy recognizes the deep-seated need of the parents whose children it admits to see firsthand something of day-to-day operations. The opportunity to visit with an English professor for a few minutes and to get a report on their children's progress is therefore something, if not always enough, for parents wrapped in apprehensions as tightly as they are in those black parkas. Some trepidation must always accompany pride for the families of soldiers, but the imaginings of those parents in October 2001 were far more desperate in view of the fact that the stakes of American soldiering had suddenly been raised." (Page 10)
The author makes it clear early in the book that she wrestles with complex emotions around the issue of teaching cadets who will soon be sent to war:
"I imagine it would be difficult to know your students are going to war under any circumstances. As it happens, I remain unconvinced by any of the stated reasons given for the invasion of Iraq and dismayed by its civilian architects' apparently cavalier lack of foresight, and because many of my former students, in whom I very much believe, participated in the invasion and continue to serve in the occupying force, it is an adventure that has provoked in me deep sorrow and anger. As I look back on the last few years, I realize how frustrated I've become about not only the prosecution of the war in Iraq but also the ways in which our own country, even as it celebrates the abstraction of the military's sacrifice, has become disconnected in the absence of the draft from the individuals who fight." (Pages 13-14)
In each of our nation's prestigious service academies, there is always a healthy tension between seeing the institution as a liberal arts college preparing the whole person to deal with the vicissitudes of life and leadership and the tendency to view it as a "trade school" that teaches warriors the nuts and bolts of their trade. Dr. Samet addresses this tension:
"Champions of the liberal education cadets receive at West Point - and those champions include the general officers who lead the institution - are fond of the following quotation, sometimes attributed to Thucydides but in fact penned by the British general Sir William Francis Butler: `The nation that will insist upon drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking by cowards.'" (Pages 75-76)
The English professor has an interesting perspective on how she views her teaching as providing another kind of weapon in the arsenal that her former students take with them into battle:
"From the Alien and Sedition laws of 1798 to the USA Patriot Act of 2001, American presidents have tended to meet crises with legislation designed to curtail and suspend rather than to enlarge freedoms, including intellectual freedom and freedom of expression. That's why I relish the idea that `books are weapons.' It is terminology sufficiently combative for someone teaching students who may very well find themselves at the violent margins of experience, and over the past several years I've come to understand the many ways in which books can serve as weapons: against boredom and loneliness, obviously; against fear and sorrow; but also against the more elusive evils of certitude and dogmatism." (Page 88)
In one of the most poignant passages in the book, Dr. Samet shares what it is like to be a woman left behind waiting to hear about the fate of the fighting men - and women -she has come to care about:
"In the spring of 2002, I embarked on the Odyssey with the plebes. One of the things that surprised me about this group was their impatience with Odysseus, in particular their anger at his sojourn with Calypso, the beautiful nymph who effectively imprisoned him on an island for seven years, thus delaying his homecoming. This isn't what good soldiers do, they insisted with a ferocity I couldn't account for, and it wasn't what good husbands do. To the extent the poem awakened their sympathies at all, they seemed to be drawn to the hapless Telemachus, searching for his father, and to Penelope. Odysseus' wife wards off the greedy suitors feeding off Ithaca's treasure in her hall, with the ruse of the tapestry. Promising to marry one of them once her weaving is done, she sits alone each night undoing the day's work and thinking about her absent husband.
Given that we were newly at war, it is likely that the cadets would have preferred the exploits of Achilles and Hector to the meandering of the disillusioned Odysseus. They weren't feeling disillusioned then, and their eyes were on the voyage out, not the coming home. If those plebes, some of whom are now no doubt in Iraq, ever think about the Odyssey today, perhaps its vision seems more explicable. Back then, they just wanted the poem to end. The war has also placed me in a new relation to Homer's ambivalent Penelope, who sits at home waiting for news of soldiers who have gone to war. I can tell myself I'm not a mother - not a listener and a watcher left behind - I can weave that tapestry every morning, but at night it all unravels to reveal that the fates have conspired to cast me in the most ancient woman's role of all." (Pages 120-121)
In a wonderful coupling of literature with the emotional landscape of West Point, the author shares these thoughts:
"West Point is no prison, even if cadets like to call it one, yet in recent years, against the backdrop of NSA wiretapping and the Patriot Act, the feeling that we are all under constant surveillance has grown more intense, and not just at West Point. When, in the context of this course on London in 2004, the seniors encountered Foucault's theories of disciplinary mechanisms in the Victorian city, they saw a parallel to their own lives. Arthur Conan Doyle's stories and Charles Dickens's Bleak House provided fictional accounts of watching and being watched that prompted them to reflect on their own status as disciplines bodies. One senior fond of reminding me that cadets are `national treasures' also knew that valuable things tend to be kept under lock and key. When he read in Bleak House of poor Jo the crossing sweeper, who believes that the eyes and ears of the police are always upon him and that Inspector Bucket is `in all manner of places, all at wanst,' the cadet announced, `That's us, ma'am, they are always watching us.' People who believe themselves under surveillance begin to understand life as a performance." (Pages 132-133)
In a seminal passage near the end of this fine book, Dr. Samet highlights the skewed and distorted image that much of our society has of West Point, its cadets, and the military in general:
"What worries me far more than any cynicism I see on the part of cadets is a certain cynicism about cadets - the cynicism of Brad's friend, for instance - on the part of those people who respond to the news that I teach English at West Point with an openmouthed stare of disbelief. My mother reports that on more than one occasion when the subject of what I do has come up in conversation, acquaintances have exclaimed: `You mean they read?' She thinks that such responses stem primarily from ignorance about the nature of the Academy's comprehensive undergraduate curriculum; she's more generous than I am. `Oh, they can read? That's a relief. What do they read?' asked an incredulous clerk at a bookstore one day, holding my bag of purchases out of reach until I gave him a satisfactory answer. As the Army, in the wake of Vietnam, became more profoundly isolated from certain important sectors of the civilian society it serves, the impression grew in certain quarters that the military was, to borrow a phrase from Tim O'Brien, a `jungle of robots.' In the context of today's conflict, moreover, the transformation of robots into martyrs, heroes, and other symbols of sacrifice has done little if anything to rehumanize soldiers. It is precisely to their ability to wrestle with faith and doubt that cadets most effectively refute the accusation that they are nothing but automatons or victims." (Page 178)
By telling her story of the role that she and her colleagues play in integrating the wisdom of literature with the machinery of warfare, Dr. Samet has taken a large step in the direction of helping her readers to rehumanize their conception of cadets and the soldiers that they are being trained to be. I am personally grateful for the role that she plays in helping cadets, like David Addams and his ilk, become a more fully realized human beings, so that they can become more effective leaders - in war and in peace.
Enjoy.
Al
Well Written, But Why? July 19, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
"Soldiers Heart" is a good idea for a book. Ever since reading the current Remick book "Understanding West Point" and his 1999 forerunner "Mr. Jefferson's Academy", both of which were unique in making extensive use of literature, I have liked the idea that soldiers can go into combat armed with literature in their psyche as well as courage in their hearts. The authors show that you can have both. Truthfully, however, I must say, I do get the impression that, before this book, the good Ms. Stamet had not done anything too remarkable in her life to warrant her making this book into somewhat of an autobiography. Though I do not like the author's liberal flavor of current events and her political correctness (and surprised West Point has someone like that teaching there) she HAS accomplished a remarkable feat writing a book like "Soldier's Heart" right under the noses of those who are supposed to be the Army's watchdogs of officer education. So, congratulations to Ms. Stamet on a well written book and on pulling this off.
"Soldier's Heart inspired me to read other books on this same "west point" web page of Amazon.com. Speaking of the Remick book, one of those books (that I now think is probably the best practical book on leadership I've read) is the other current Remick book, "West Point: Beyond Leadership of Character". I would highly recommend it to every cadet and graduate who cares about their own future. As Ms. Stamet "dared" to write the politically correct book, "Soldier's Heart", Remick "dared" to write a book about going even beyond the leadership of character they teach at West Point. In any event, I commend "Soldier's Heart" as good, and I also recommend you go from good to great by reading "West Point: Beyond Leadership of Character"
Schoolmasters and soldiers July 2, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a book by a civilian English Literature professor teaching cadets at West Point. The focus is on her relationships with students and colleagues. It is not evaluative or critical of West Point nor the United States military as much as it is a self evaluation. Samet's colonels and cadets provide us with some valuable lessons about how well this nation has accomplished the purpose of higher education and a national military academy in its free society rooted in the founding of both the Republic and the USMA. Adams and Jefferson, with their particular wisdom encouraged the multiplicity of educational paths which has given such strength to the confidence we have in our military services. The role of the volunteer citizen-soldier is well known to all of us via ROTC of our public and land grant colleges, but we may have less contact with the professional soldier who is a product of West Point or the other service academies.
This book presents these people( women, now, as well as men) as both typical American college students and as somewhat different, shaped as they are by a precise career path, conditions and expectations. The career officers, typically graduates returning to the West Point staff after a variety of duties, are similarly depicted by means of anecdotes about classroom experiences and letters and meetings. This humanizing portrait, not always flattering, helps the reader to appreciate the complexities at the heart of at first sometimes seemingly silly situations. An incident of a hat left behind after class and a hatless cadet, torn between hatlessness in this most uniform of environments and unofficial borrowing of the hat unquestionably left by the taker of his hat, as well as an upperclassman's practical solution makes the value of a philosophical discussion of ethical choice understandable; although, the author does not draw the moral, we see the importance of balancing scruples vs exegency in a future life and death situation. What guidelines are there to deal with the always new nature of command.
Samet offers some literary models to her students. I might include a few more, especially the studies of command in Conrad's Secret Sharer, Crane's Red Badge, the dilemma of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and clearly more Shakespeare, but the subjects she discusses are valid points of debate in literature classes. I must disagree with other reviewers on the author's "politically correct" attitude and style. We are trapped in English by our gendered pronouns, and sometimes "P.C." attempts are absurd, but this author's use is clearly situational. So, too, she takes care to discuss teaching, not the war. I was envious, however, of the continued contact she seems to maintain with former students. One of the pains of the academic life is that after a long career so many young people who are for a semester or two the focus of attention become sparks of a moment in a professor's life. She gives us a picture of a caring mentor to whom her students return.
 Not The Way We're Gonna Win June 2, 2008
9 out of 16 found this review helpful
I agree with the other grads. Find another book to read. This is too liberal, too politically correct, and too critical of our government. They're supposed to be creating leaders who are tough in mind and body, not cynical apologists. Anyone on staff who recommends this book should be separated, in my opinion. What is happening to West Point when things like this are not disparaged up there?
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