STS 6234 Advanced Topics in the History of Science and Technology:
Critical Issues in 20th Century Military Technology
Meets Tuesday, 6:30-9:15 PM in Alexandria
Instructor: Shannon A. Brown (202) 685-4388
email: sbrown3@verizon.net
Course Overview and Objective:
In this seminar course, we will examine significant works of scholarship on modern
military technology. The readings will focus on the United States and Europe since the
mid-nineteenth century. Scholarly approaches to and interpretations of the study of
weapons; institutional innovation; technology and doctrine; and society and warfare will
serve as points of review, analysis, and discussion for the class. Readings will be drawn
from technology history, international affairs, policy studies, anthropology, sociology,
and the history of medicine.
The objective of the course is to familiarize advanced STS graduate students with core
readings on the history of military technology to give them an awareness of the multitude
of academic approaches that have been employed to interpret relationships between
society and military institutions against a historical backdrop of technological change.
Course Requirements:
Students will be required to submit two papers for credit during this semester. The first
paper will be a bibliographic essay that explores a specific topic of military STS,
describing the major academic works, summarizing the arguments that define the field.
You should write between 9 and 12 pages. There is no limit to the number of books and
articles that should be included in your bibliographic essay, but you should select works
that are representative of the scholarship on the subject and can be given a fair treatment
within the established page limit.
The second paper will be an analytical work that addresses a military STS topic. Later in
the term, I will provide you with a more detailed requirements list for this assignment.
All students will be responsible for keeping up with the course reading. Your
participation grades will be based on informal readings presentations (assigned to
individuals the week prior) and open discussion.
Grading:
30% attendance and participation
35% bibliographic essay (12-15 pages)
35% analytical essay (12-15 pages)
STS 6234
Revised syllabus 3/10/07
Required Books (in order of use):
Daniel Pick, War Machine: The Rationalisation of Slaughter in the Machine Age
H. Bruce Franklin, War Stars: The Superweapon and the American Imagination
Donald McKenzie, Inventing Accuracy
Stephen Peter Rosen, Winning the Next War: Innovation and the Modern Military
Stephen L. McFarland, America’s Pursuit of Precision Bombing, 1910-1945
Fred Kaplan, Wizards of Armageddon
Stuart W. Leslie, The Cold War and American Science
Scott Sagan, The Limits of Safety: Organizations, Accidents, and Nuclear Weapons
Hugh Gusterson, Nuclear Rites: A Weapons Laboratory at the End of the Cold War
Joe Haldeman, The Forever War
Topic and Reading Schedule
(Reading assignments are subject to change; assignments marked “TBD” will be
announced in class several weeks before discussion.
Week 1 – May 22
Introduction and Course Overview
Week 2 – May 29
Culture and Military Technology: Human Expectations and Mechanical Means
Readings:
Pick, War Machine
Week 3 – June 5
Military Technology and the Modern Imagination
Readings:
Franklin, War Stars
Week 4 – June 12
Managing Military Technology
Readings:
MacKenzie, Inventing Accuracy
Week 5 – June 19
The Innovation Imperative
Readings:
Rosen, Winning the Next War
Week 6 – June 26
Technology and Doctrine
Readings:
Kaplan, Wizards of Armageddon
STS 6234
Revised syllabus 3/10/07
JULY 3 – NO CLASS – HOLIDAY
Week 8 – July 10
Readings:
Technological Artifacts and Military Institutions
McFarland, America’s Pursuit of Precision Bombing
DUE: BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY
Week 9 – July 17
Science and the Military
Readings:
Leslie, Cold War and American Science
Week 10 – July 24
Managing Military Technology
Readings:
Sagan, The Limits of Safety
Week 11 – July 31
Exploring Opposing Viewpoints
Gusterson, Nuclear Rites
DUE: ANALYTIC ESSAY
Week 11 – August 7
Fiction as STS Commentary
Haldeman, The Forever War
STS 6234
Revised syllabus 3/10/07