Annapolis Autumn: Life, Death, And Literature At The U.S. Naval Academy [Hardcover]

Bruce Fleming (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2005

In the tradition of Dead Poets Society, an English professor recounts the unique challenges of teaching liberal arts at one of America's premier military schools

"If it's a choice between a gay man with a rifle between me and the enemy or nobody at all, I'd rather have the gay man."—A student's response upon learning that the World War I poet Wilfred Owen was probably gay

What really goes on behind the wall that surrounds the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis? What are all those midshipmen, future officers in the U.S. Naval and Marine Corps and leaders of our society, thinking as they stand in neat ranks at the parades beloved by tourists? What are their professors actually educating them to do?

In Annapolis Autumn, Bruce Fleming, professor of English for nearly two decades at the academy and a prizewinning author, captures the sights, sounds, colors, and conversations of this tradition-steeped institution.

In other classes, the cadets learn how to assemble guns, control armored vehicles, man battleships, and kill other human beings. Nothing is ever less than "outstanding, sir!" In English class, however, Fleming introduces his students to nuance and subtext, to the gay poets of World War I, and to the idea that not every piece of literature is designed to be "motivational." Sharing stories from his twenty years at the academy, Fleming explores questions about teaching, the labels "liberal" and "conservative," and the ultimate purpose of higher education—issues made all the more gripping at a time when many of his students will graduate from the classroom to the battlefield.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–An English teacher at the Naval Academy for almost 20 years, Fleming gives readers a good look at the institution as seen by a civilian on the inside. This liberal man, trying to teach largely conservative students to appreciate lifes gray areas, has had a lot of years to discern and perfect his view of what the academy and its students are about, and he covers all of it in a thoughtful, readable way. He contrasts the structured regimen with the Great Books curriculum at St. Johns College across the street, discusses male bonding and the problems it creates for the acceptance of women middies, describes a few days underwater on a cramped nuclear sub, and talks about USNA admissions policies and their harmful effects. He also reports on some of the superintendents under whom he has worked and contrasts the liberal personality with the conservative, and the meaning of the latter (military) protecting the former (almost everybody else). Not only will teens contemplating attending any service academy be fascinated by this book, but it will also hold interest for anyone contemplating becoming an officer (this includes ROTC) as well as those thinking of teaching, especially English.–Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VA
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About the Author

Bruce Fleming is a tenured professor of English at the United States Naval Academy. A winner of the O. Henry Award, he has written for the Village Voice, the Washington Post, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, among other publications. He lives in Annapolis, Maryland.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 274 pages
• Publisher: New Press, The (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595580026
• ISBN-13: 978-1595580023
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #944,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A first-rate exploration of USNA, October 15, 2005

By 

M. Holman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Annapolis Autumn: Life, Death, And Literature At The U.S. Naval Academy (Hardcover)

As a 1996 graduate of the Naval Academy, I stumbled upon a rich introspective experience in the pages of Annapolis Autumn. With the insightful objectivity of one who is both an insider and outsider on The Yard, Fleming paints the institution not only in the usual blacks, whites, blues and golds; but in a varied pallet that reveals volumes about USNA and, ultimately, about those of us who are products of its education. Whether the reader is affiliated with the Academy or not, he or she will find a fascinating portrait of an institution devoted (not necessarily in this order) to the most demanding standards of higher learning and to the service of a necessarily single-minded, self-assured, mission-oriented organization like the U.S. Navy.

Through a series of comparisons--Athens vs. Sparta, Classical vs. Romantic, St. John's College vs. USNA--Fleming seems to search for equilibrium. In this search, he treats the reader with many intriguing observations, such as the equally noble but ultimately irreconcilable goals of St. John's College to "...free men and women from the tyrannies of unexamined opinions and inherited prejudices," and those of USNA to "...imbue (midshipmen) with the highest ideals of duty, honor and loyalty." Ultimately, however, his analysis of USNA does not force a conclusion or a solution on the reader. Instead, it makes us think, which appears to have been Fleming's constant two-decades' challenge as a professor. Annapolis Autumn shows us that literature, at the Naval Academy and elsewhere, is not simply a harmless "bull major" endeavor to throw the pale cast of thought over decidedly noble enterprises, but rather a means to help us understand who we are, what we serve, and what it's all about.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book yet on life on the Yard, October 3, 2005

By 

USNA Alum - See all my reviews

This review is from: Annapolis Autumn: Life, Death, And Literature At The U.S. Naval Academy (Hardcover)

I am a graduate of USNA and this book is the best I've read yet on life at USNA. Dr. Fleming catches subtleties of the midshipman life that I suspect escaped even some of my fellow alumni. As one might expect from a man who holds a PhD in English, the prose is well done, very clean and exact, with a great flair for description. If anyone asks me what they should read to learn more about life at the 'Boat School' this will the be the first title out of my mouth.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking, October 13, 2005

By 

James E. Tenuto (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Annapolis Autumn: Life, Death, And Literature At The U.S. Naval Academy (Hardcover)

In a few weeks I will be returning to the Naval Academy for my 30th Reunion. One of my friends and classmates, a mechanical engineering professor at the Academy, sugested that I read Bruce Fleming's "Annapolis Autumn."

Fleming is a contemporary of mine, 50ish. While I sat in the student desks of Sampson Hall, where he now teaches, he was attending classes at Haverford. After 20+ years of laboring in the halls of academia as it it practised at a service academy, he has some things to say.

I only hope that people listen.

The book is nearly schizophrenic. Some of Fleming's observations are pungently witty, acerbic insights into the hot house world of the Naval Academy. I laughed out loud. At other times I found myself closing the book, taking a deep breath, and forcing myself to think and confront his more serious thoughts.

Part III of the book is quite serious. In that section Fleming grapples with the Classical versus Romatic philosophical views of the Academy, as well as a disturbing introduction into the admissions policy. He relates, over the course of several chapters, a chilling episode where is asked by the academic dean to withdraw an opinion piece that he had submitted to the Washington Post in defense of a Supreme Court ruling that determined race should not be a factor in college admissions. As a tenured professor Fleming enjoyed a measure of legal, moral and ethical protection. But the unspoken threat becomes more powerful that a palpable one.

This is a book I would recommend without hestitation to anyone who has attended Annapolis or is considering attending. It goes without saying that those who are currently students would find the book enlightening. Fleming, better than any outsider, takes us behind the veneer of the spit and polish and the pomp and circumstance and into the inner world of midshipmen.

Of all my classes at the Academy, I remember the English classes the most. They remain in my memory an island among the ocean of science, engineering and naval warfare. Fleming reminds us that we are men, or women, first, then we are officers.

Bravo Zulu.