| Description |
1 online resource (xi, 346 pages) |
| Contents |
Introduction : The good coward -- Aristodemus, or cowardice redeemed -- Tim O'Brien and Laches -- Courageous disposition -- Courage and scarcity -- "I have a wife and pigs" -- Shoot the stragglers and the problem of retreat -- Offense, defense, and rescue -- Man the chicken -- Praised be rashness -- Stupidity, skill, and shame -- The shape and style of courage -- The emotional terrain : fear, hope, despair -- The emotional terrain : disgust, anger, relief -- Courage and chastity -- Moral courage and civility -- Fixing to die : a valediction -- Concluding postscript |
| Summary |
This volume utilises soldiers' memoirs, heroic and romantic literature and philosophical discussions to analyse the link between courage and fear and expose the role of courage in generating anxieties of manhood and masculinity |
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Few of us spend much time thinking about courage, but we know it when we see it--or do we? Is it best displayed by marching into danger, making the charge, or by resisting, enduring without complaint? Is it physical or moral, or both? Is it fearless, or does it involve subduing fear? Abner Small, a Civil War soldier, was puzzled by what he called the "mystery of bravery"; to him, courage and cowardice seemed strangely divorced from character and will. It is this mystery, just as puzzling in our day, that William Ian Miller unravels in this engrossing meditation. Miller culls sources as varied as soldiers' memoirs, heroic and romantic literature, and philosophical discussions to get to the heart of courage--and to expose its role in generating the central anxieties of masculinity and manhood. He probes the link between courage and fear, and explores the connection between bravery and seemingly related states: rashness, stubbornness, madness, cruelty, fury; pride and fear of disgrace; and the authority and experience that minimize fear. By turns witty and moving, inquisitive and critical, his inquiry takes us from ancient Greece to medieval Europe, to the American Civil War, to the Great War and Vietnam, with sidetrips to the schoolyard, the bedroom, and the restaurant. Whether consulting Aristotle or private soldiers, Miller elicits consistently compelling insights into a condition as endlessly interesting as it is elusive |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-336) and index |
| Notes |
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL |
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English |
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Print version record |
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digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL |
| SUBJECT |
Forschungszentrum Jülich Programmgruppe Mensch, Umwelt, Technik gnd |
| Subject |
Courage.
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PHILOSOPHY -- Ethics & Moral Philosophy.
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PSYCHOLOGY -- Social Psychology.
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Courage
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Moed.
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Filosofische aspecten.
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Culturele aspecten.
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Lebensführung
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Courage.
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Mut.
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| LC no. |
00029559 |
| ISBN |
9780674041059 |
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0674041054 |
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