Dear SSJ-Forum subscribers,

Tokyo College, part of the University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, warmly invites you to participate in the following public lecture:

Date and time: Wednesday, October 22, 2025, 15:00-16:00 (JST)

Speaker: Sheldon GARON (Invited Professor, Tokyo College; Professor, Princeton University)

Moderator: Michael FACIUS (Associate Professor, Tokyo College)

Title: "Morale" on the Home Front: Its Transnational Construction and Destruction, 1914-1945

Abstract: Although few could define it, "civilian morale" emerged as one of the 20th century's deadliest discourses.  In its name, millions of civilians were bombed and starved, as warring nations sought to "break the morale" of the enemy's civil population in Europe and East Asia by air raids and food blockades.  How did it become "normal" to win wars by attacking cities and civilian morale?  From World War I through World War II, ideas and practices relating to morale circulated rapidly around the world.  Key transnational developments include the British and German blockades of 1914-18, the rise of "morale reports," aerial bombardment, and America's "Operation Starvation" against Japan.

Venue: Zoom Webinar

Registration:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_r1MXGAc3SBKQxsd6jb6oNQ#/registration

Further information: https://www.tc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/ai1ec_event/15926/

Contact/questions: tokyo.college.event@tc.u-tokyo.ac.jp