The Iraq War…The War on Terror…The Surge…for every name, year passing in labyrinthine complexity, convoluted explanations offered on the campaign trial justifying one vote for war, and opinions from all sides, thousands of American soldiers are stationed the Middle East. Elizabeth D. Samet introduces several of them in Soldier’s Heart: Reading Literature in Peace and War at West Point. Unlike President Bush with his cumulative “C” average from Yale, these rigorously educated members at the top echelon of the all-volunteer army know that good command and orders saves lives. They also know books matter.

An Ivy League-educated civilian who has taught at the USMA since 1997, Professor Samet’s memoir grew out of articles, interviews, and talks she’s done since her colleagues and ex-students were deployed. One of the best reasons for reading Soldier’s Heart is discovering that military maneuvers are far from the only thing taught at West Point. English is a required subject, and cadets have the option of minoring in it as well. Lit and composition classes serve another purpose: they are one of the few outlets this particular student body has for expressing his or her own opinions. Samet convincingly argues that future officers need both a communal, disciplined environment and the ability to think creatively for themselves so they and their unit come home alive.

Another reason why Soldier’s Heart is compelling reading is that its author does not consider herself an expert in military life. However, her descriptions of the monuments and rituals of her workplace are vivid. You’ll think again if you thought being stuck in traffic or on the subway was a good enough reason for being late for class.

Professor Samet refers to two nineteenth century works in order to better understand the orderly environment she teaches in and the current crisis affecting all within their picturesque Hudson Valley grounds. The first is the book that her peaked interest in West Point – Ulysses S. Grant’s Personal Memoirs. This presidential autobiography is renowned for its candor, especially those sections where Grant recalls his difficult years at “The Point.” The other is War and Peace, which one young captain brought with him to Iraq. Like Tolstoy’s deftly shifting focus between the nobility on the home front and their sons off fighting Napoleon, Samet divides Soldier’s Heart between the pre- and post-September 11 West Point. Perhaps the victorious General of the Union Army and literature’s most famous soldier-turned-author aren’t surprising choices (neither are Homer, Ambrose Bierce, nor World War I battlefield poet Wilfred Owen), but their timelessness takes on poignant importance.

Soldier’s Heart: Reading Literature in Peace and War at West Point is a timely dual history/biography of West Point.