Ends and Odds: Eight New Dramatic PiecesIn A Call to Heroism, Peter Gibbon argues that the heroes we honor are the embodiment of the ideals that America was founded on: liberty, justice, and tolerance chief among them. Because the very concept of heroism has come under threat in our cynical media age, Gibbon believes that we must forge a new understanding of what it means to be a hero to fortify our ideals as we engage our present challenges and face those that lay ahead. Gibbon examines the types of heroes that we have celebrated throughout our history, and along the way, he contemplates the meanings of seven monuments and artworks dedicated to heroes to examine what these places and things say about the America of their time--and what they mean for Americans today. Full of insight and inspiration, A Call to Heroism is a provocative look at a timeless subject that has never been more important. Chapter One What Is A Hero? A look at the essence of heroism, and how we perceive it today Interchapter: Hall of Fame for Great Americans A contemplation of the Hall monument, built in New York City at the end of the 19th century by architecht Stanford White, and left to decay in the 1970s. Gibbon |
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Contents
What Is a Hero? | 1 |
The Hall of Fame for Great Americans | 15 |
The NineteenthCentury Ideology of Heroism | 18 |
John Bridge Puritan | 37 |
Our Help in Ages Past | 40 |
The Shaw Memorial | 53 |
The American Warrior Hero | 56 |
Saint John the Divines Sports Bay | 71 |
Rushmore Revisited | 117 |
Ashamed of Our Past | 130 |
Forgotten Monuments | 139 |
Talking to Students About Heroes | 142 |
Why Heroes? | 171 |
Afterword | 185 |
Notes | 189 |
Bibliography | 215 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Abraham Adams admiration Adolf Hitler American asked athletes Author battle became become believed biography Boston called Carlyle celebrity century Charles Charles William Eliot City Civil courage critic culture death described died Eliot Emerson essays face father Franklin Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave George Washington give Hall Harvard Henry heroes heroic heroism historian honor Horace Mann House human idealism interesting James Jefferson John John Bridge later leaders letters Lincoln Little lives look Mann Memorial models monuments moral mother movie named never nineteenth century notes once past person political powerful praised president Quaker Quoted reform reporters Robert Roosevelt society soldiers speech stands statue stories studied talk teacher Thomas thought thousand tion told turned University Press values Vietnam women write wrote York young