Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point

SOLDIER'S HEART: READING LITERATURE THROUGH PEACE AND WAR AT WEST POINT; Elizabeth D. Samet; New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007; 259pgs. Non-Fiction

Elizabeth Samet, Harvard and Yale-educated professor of English, is beguiled into taking a teaching position at West Point when she reads the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. As she becomes acquainted with the plebes, yearlings, cows, and firsties of the Army Corps of cadets she learns much about soldiers in time of war, and uses literature (and film) to help them know themselves even better. Soldier's Heart is a tender and enlightening account of young men and women who become dear to the reader, and dearer because they may not survive the course of the war. Along the way we become acquainted with the literature of war and the uses in wartime of the literature of peace. Samet is a thoughtful, deeply intelligent writer whose prose and sensibilities linger in the mind long after the book is closed. Highly recommended.

LW