Flying Aces and Devil Dogs

WW1 Heroism: Through Art and Film University of Leeds
Week 1: WW1 heroism: portrayed through art

Did you sign up for this MOOC? It just started Monday and lasts only two weeks. You need a free FutureLearn account. Then you can sign up for this particular class. (FutureLearn will also offer a short, 2 week MOOC on influenza beginning January 18.)

We won't hold Sunday sessions for the WW1 Heroism MOOC in January, though we might do so later during one of the repeats.

This week's portion has two parts.
part 1 - Tracking changes in sentiment through poster design. Short videos and then you are launched right out into your own analysis.
University of Leeds Collection
WW1 Propaganda Posters
The Imperial War Museum
The Library of Congress Collection

The assignment: choose a poster, pin it on the course board with a few comments.

Reminder: you are auditing. You do not have to do these assignments. You can just watch the videos and stroll through images.

part 2 - Paintings. Again, short lectures then you are off to tag and comment.
These are the sites they suggest, though you can find many others

GOOGLE CULTURAL INSTITUTE: FIRST WORLD WAR COLLECTION
ARCHIVES NEW ZEALAND: NATIONAL COLLECTION OF WAR ART
THE BRITISH LIBRARY: WHY PAINT WAR? BRITISH AND BELGIAN ARTISTS IN WORLD WAR 1
NATIONAL WW1 MUSEUM, KANSAS CITY: WAR ART
IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM: COLLECTIONS SEARCH

You can discover other sources online, even within online forums.

The assignment: get a free BBC account then curate and annotate a small collection of WWI paintings at their Your Paintings site.

If you are doing the assignments, for the second week you will have an opportunity to write a review of a recent book, film, or TV show about the First World War. Has our concept of heroism changed?

Here is a selection of recent books in our library. If you have read any of them please go into our catalog to tag and comment.

Dead wake : the last crossing of the Lusitania (we also have this on CD)
Terrorist : Gavrilo Princip, the assassin who ignited World War I (J book)
We that are left (fiction)
Wounded : a new history of the Western Front in World War I
Wake : a novel (fiction)
Silence for the dead (fiction)
The trigger : hunting the assassin who brought the world to war
The great and holy war : how World War I became a religious crusade
Stay where you are & then leave (J book)
Stubby the war dog : the true story of World War I's bravest dog (J book)
Enduring courage : ace pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the dawn of the age of speed
Wilfred Owen

Other choices? Search our catalog for the subject: World War, 1914-1918. We have 171 books with that tracing.

We don't have films or television shows in our library. But you know how to find them.

Suggested movies:

The Return of Captain John Emmett (Elizabeth Speller)
An Unwilling Accomplice (Charles Todd)
Cold Comfort (Charles Todd)
The Accrington Pals (Peter Whelan)
Care and Management of Lies (Jacqueline Winspear)
My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You (Louisa Young)
The Heroes’ Welcome (Louisa Young)
The Great War Diaries (BBC)
A Very Long Engagement (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
War Horse (Steven Spielberg)
My Boy Jack (Brian Kirk)

For television shows the instructors suggest the following BBC shows (remember this course is coming to you from the University of Leeds)

The Passing Bells
37 Days
The First World War
Blackadder Goes Forth
All the King’s Men
Downton Abbey Series 2
The Crimson Field