Taking Courage: A New Look at an Old American Virtue

Courage has long been a favorite theme of philosophers, generals, and poets alike. A fundamental virtue since ancient times, courage is perhaps most readily identified with military exploits. But what does courage mean beyond the battlefield? And what do traditional ideals of bravery, dedication, and self-sacrifice look like in our daily lives today? These are among the questions Elizabeth Samet asks in this original and deeply stirring work of criticism that rediscovers courage for a polarized age.

Like many Americans, Samet first learned about courage from the WWII generation: watching war movies with her father, a veteran of that war, and reading stories of physical feats and derring-do. But as an educator of cadets at West Point she began to formulate a deeper understanding of courage as she tried to explain it to herself and her students by studying literature, film, culture, history, and the physical monuments that dominate the landscape in which they work. Providing the necessary reminder that true courage is sustained by knowledge and judgment, Samet argues that this virtue lies at the heart of democracy. It is the audacity to work toward a better future in a world characterized by technological revolution, social and economic upheaval, and persistent conflict. Through anecdote and analysis, Taking Courage draws throughlines from the classroom to the world beyond, from Virgil’s Aeneid to the Marvel Universe, from the conversations between the great French film director Jean Renoir and his father, the Impressionist master Pierre-Auguste, to the brilliant and undervalued fiction of the Austro-Hungarian Joseph Roth. Using spirited interactions with her students as a springboard, Samet paves the way toward a more unified future by advocating for a new understanding of courage, one that is recognized by boldness, curiosity, and humor as much as by physical valor.