The mystery of courage / William Ian Miller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miller, William Ian, 1946-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Courage.

Conduct of life.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (360p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 2000.

Language Note:

English

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.

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.

Contents:

Preface 1. Introduction: The Good Coward 2. Aristodemus, or Cowardice Redeemed 3. Tim O'Brien and Laches 4. Courageous Disposition 5. Courage and Scarcity 6. "I Have a Wife and Pigs" 7. Shoot the Stragglers and the Problem of Retreat 8. Offense, Defense, and Rescue 9. Man the Chicken 10. Praised Be Rashness 11. Stupidity, Skill, and Shame 12. The Shape and Style of Courage 13. The Emotional Terrain: Fear, Hope, Despair 14. The Emotional Terrain: Disgust, Anger, Relief 15. Courage and Chastity 16. Moral Courage and Civility 17. Fixing to Die: A Valediction 18. Concluding Postscript Notes Bibliography Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [321]-336) and index.

ISBN:

9780674266131

0674266137

9780674041059

0674041054

OCLC:

923111834