Aaron B. O'Connell, Assistant Professor

Cultural history of U.S. military

Email:  aoconnel@usna.edu

Education:

• Ph.D - Yale
• Certificate in Security Studies - Yale
• M.Phil - Yale
• M.A. - Yale
• M.A. - Indiana University
• B.A. - Trinity College, Hartford, CT

 Research Interests:

I view myself as a cultural historian of the U.S. military. I am principally concerned with exploring the various narratives told by and about the U.S. military in the 20th century – both inside and outside the United States – and with tracing the effects of those stories on American society, U.S. foreign policy, and the world. My work crosses over into the fields of international history and globalization studies, military history, American Studies, history of memory and trauma, and civil-military relations.
 

Prizes and Awards

2009       Distinguished Dissertation in American History Prize, Yale University History   

              Department

2007       Marine Corps Heritage Foundation Research Grant

2007       Smith Richardson Dissertation Fellowship, International Security Studies, Yale

              University

2006       Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, Lemuel S. Shepherd Memorial Dissertation

              Fellowship

2005       Smith Richardson Dissertation Fellowship, International Security Studies, Yale

              University

2003       Research Grant on Islamic Fundamentalism, Yale Center for the Study of

              Globalization

2002       Virginia Lafollete Gunderson writing award, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

 Recent Publications  

Underdogs: The Making of the Modern Marine Corps (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012)

 “A Harsh and Spiritual Unity: A New Look at Culture and Battle in the Marine Corps’ Pacific War,”  International Journal of Naval History, volume 7, number 3, December 2008.

 “Saving Private Lynch: A Hyperreal Hero in an Age of Postmodern Warfare,” War, Literature and the Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities, Fall, 2005.

 “Understanding Anti-Americanism in a Cross-Cultural Context: Cultural Friction and the War in Iraq.”  Occasional Paper Series, International Security Studies, Yale University, Fall 2004.

 Book Reviews

Stacey Peebles, Welcome to the Suck: Narrating the American Soldier’s Experience in Iraq. Reviewed for Journal of the Historical Association (UK), Forthcoming.  

Brian Glyn Williams, Afghanistan Declassified, A Guide to America’s Longest War. Reviewed for Journal of Military History, November 2012

Beth Bailey, America’s Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force. Reviewed for Parameters, Spring 2011.

Stephen S. Evans, U.S. Marines and Irregular Warfare, 1898-2007: Anthology and Selected Bibliography. Reviewed for Journal of Military History, July 2009.

Video Links:
 

To hear Assistant Professor O’Connell discuss his work, please click on the links below:

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674058279

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Underdo

Op-eds and Other Publications

“Gun Culture in the Red Dawn Films,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 11, 2013 (print edition)

“The Permanent Militarization of America,” The New York Times, November 5, 2012 (print edition)