A sweeping reassessment of our longing for the past, from the rise
of “retro” to the rhetoric of Brexit and Trump. Nostalgia has a
bad reputation. Its critics dismiss it as mere sentimentality or,
worse, a dangerous yearning for an imagined age of purity. And
nostalgia is routinely blamed for trivializing the past and
obscuring its ugly sides. In Yesterday, Tobias Becker offers a more
nuanced and sympathetic view. Surveying the successive waves of
nostalgia that swept the United States and Europe after the Second
World War, he shows that longing for the past is more complex and
sometimes more beneficial than it seems. The current meaning of
“nostalgia” is surprisingly recent: until the 1960s, it usually
just meant homesickness, in keeping with the original Greek word.
Linking popular culture to postwar politics in the United States,
Great Britain, and Germany, Becker explains the shift in meaning.
He also responds to arguments against nostalgia, showing its
critics as often shortsighted in their own ways as they defend an
idea of progress no less naïve than the wistfulness they denounce.
All too often, nostalgia itself is criticized, as if its merit did
not depend on which specific past one longs for. Taking its title
from one of the most popular songs of all time, and grounded in
extensive research, Yesterday offers a rigorous and entertaining
perspective on divisive issues in culture and politics. Whether we
are revisiting, reviving, reliving, reenacting, or regressing, and
whether these activities find expression in politics, music,
fashion, or family history, nostalgia is inevitable. It is also
powerful, not only serving to define the past but also orienting us
toward the future we will create.
General
| Imprint: |
Harvard University Press
|
| Country of origin: |
United States |
| Release date: |
November 2023 |
| Authors: |
Tobias Becker
|
| Dimensions: |
235 x 156mm (L x W) |
| Pages: |
344 |
| ISBN-13: |
978-0-674-25175-5 |
| Categories: |
Books
|
| LSN: |
0-674-25175-X |
| Barcode: |
9780674251755 |
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