Memory is as central to modern politics as politics is central
to modern memory. We are so accustomed to living in a forest of
monuments, to having the past represented to us through museums,
historic sites, and public sculpture, that we easily lose sight of
the recent origins and diverse meanings of these uniquely modern
phenomena. In this volume, leading historians, anthropologists, and
ethnographers explore the relationship between collective memory
and national identity in diverse cultures throughout history.
Placing commemorations in their historical settings, the
contributors disclose the contested nature of these monuments by
showing how groups and individuals struggle to shape the past to
their own ends.
The volume is introduced by John Gillis's broad overview of the
development of public memory in relation to the history of the
nation-state. Other contributions address the usefulness of
identity as a cross-cultural concept (Richard Handler), the
connection between identity, heritage, and history (David
Lowenthal), national memory in early modern England (David Cressy),
commemoration in Cleveland (John Bodnar), the museum and the
politics of social control in modern Iraq (Eric Davis), invented
tradition and collective memory in Israel (Yael Zerubavel), black
emancipation and the civil war monument (Kirk Savage), memory and
naming in the Great War (Thomas Laqueur), American commemoration of
World War I (Kurt Piehler), art, commerce, and the production of
memory in France after World War I (Daniel Sherman), historic
preservation in twentieth-century Germany (Rudy Koshar), the
struggle over French identity in the early twentieth century
(Herman Lebovics), and the commemoration of concentration camps in
the new Germany (Claudia Koonz).
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!