Historical Perspective on “The Hurt Locker”

Historian James Livingston has an interesting discussion at HNN of the Will James character in the Oscar-winning movie “The Hurt Locker” and his historical namesake, philosopher William James. In the process he discusses pragmatism 20th century war, industrialization and changing ideas about masculinity. Very interesting stuff. I haven’t seen the movie, so I have no idea whether he’s being reasonable on that score, but the historical material is great.