What does it mean to be a spectator to warfare in an era in which the boundaries between witnessing and perpetrating violence have become profoundly blurred? This talk considers what we hope to see, and learn, when we confront spectacles of combat, particularly when such events prove frustrating or disappointing as much as shocking. Focusing on the concepts of expression and imagination that have informed modern military theory, the paper offers a new account of the contemporary battlefield and the idea of total war. Cosponsored by the Penn Humanities Forum.