Jay Lockenour
Temple University
Jay Lockenour, associate professor of history at Temple University, studies the intersection between social and military history, particularly the social and cultural impact of warfare in Europe. His most recent book is Dragonslayer, the Legend of Erich Ludendorff in the Weimar Republic and Third Reich (Cornell University Press, 2021); he has published on a wide range of subjects, from German political culture and national identity, to POW and veterans’ affairs, to the role of film in illuminating historical consciousness. His new project, still in its infancy, is a transnational study of the military and sports in the twentieth century. Lockenour offers courses on European social, military, and film history, and enjoys teaching comparative courses which seek to understand the way in which modern societies organize for and are transformed by war. He served as host for the New Books in Military History podcast (part of New Book Network) from 2009 to 2019.
Undergraduate Syllabi
History of European Military Policy
This course will introduce students to a number of the most important works in modern European military history. Since the focus is on recent and/or significant historiography, the themes of the course will vary, but may include the “military revolution,” the quest for decisive battle, the world wars, and current European military policy.
War and Peace
"War and Peace” examines the idea that the practice of war and the making of peace are intimately linked to the nature of the societies involved. How, who, when, where, and why we fight are directly related to our culture, values, political forms, and other social characteristics. The course will use both theoretical approaches and historical case studies to explore how this linkage of war, peace, and society has played out in the past. In the process, students will be exposed to and engage in the basic elements of social science methodologies, including history, political science, sociology, and anthropology.
Battleground Cinema
Films play an important and often unacknowledged role in shaping our understanding of historical events. The influence of war films is especially pronounced in this regard. The vicarious experience of battle leaves strong impressions on the viewer, more often than not mixing fact and fallacy in ways that create a particular, peculiar notion of historical reality. This course will examine war films from the United States, Germany, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union to see how these cinematic representations actually make important historical arguments about hotly contested topics such as the nature, meaning, and causes of war, moral responsibility for atrocities committed in war, and other issues. Students will be expected to view the films outside of class time, which will be devoted to brief lectures and discussions of the issues the films raise.