Echoes of War: A Thousand Years of Military History in Popular CultureUniversity Press of Kentucky, 2014 M10 17 - 296 pages Americans are often accused of not appreciating history, but this charge belies the real popular interest in the past. Historical reenactments draw thousands of spectators; popular histories fill the bestseller lists; PBS, A&E and The History Channel air a dizzying array of documentaries and historical dramas; and Hollywood war movies become blockbusters. Though historians worry that these popular representations sacrifice authenticity for broad appeal, Michael C.C. Adams argues that living history—even if it is an incomplete depiction of the past—plays a vital role in stimulating the historical imagination. In Echoes of War, he examines how one of the most popular fields of history is portrayed, embraced, and shaped by mainstream culture. Adams argues that symbols of war are of intrinsic military significance and help people to articulate ideas and values. We still return to the knight as a symbol of noble striving; the bowman appeals as a rebel against unjust privilege. Though Custer may not have been the Army's most accomplished fighter, he achieved the status of cultural icon. The public memory of the redcoated British regular soldier shaped American attitudes toward governments and gun laws. The 1863 attack on Fort Wagner by the black Fifty-fourth Massachusetts regiment was lost to public view until racial equality became important in the late twentieth century. Echoes of War is a unique look at how a thousand years of military history are remembered in popular culture, through images ranging from the medieval knight to the horror of U.S. involvement in the My Lai massacre. |
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... film, no matter how shallow it can be in WALT pisseyPROUDLY PREszrors: THE BATTLE of other ways. When, in. Historical reenactments draw thousands of spectators. Knights joust three times daily during the annual Renaissance festivities in ...
... films did for youth in the 1950s. If too much history designed for the mass market is indiscriminate, playing on popular fashion, failing to provoke and challenge, it is partly the fault of professional historians for not getting into ...
... films, and reenactments relating to our military past. First, although they may at times seem random, chaotic, even bizarre, most artifacts of war that appearin popular culture probably deserve to be there, either because of intrinsic ...
... film. This means that in our own homes we can examine, as in a time machine, how successive generations have seen an event such as the Battle of Agincourt or the Alamo. Each cassette may be viewed as an archaeological artifact from a ...
... film examples include John Boorman's Excalibur (1981), Jerry Zucker's First Knight (1995), and Steve Barron's Merlin (1998). In Frank Herbert's 1965 sci-fi classic Dune, although we visit technologically advanced cultures with atomic ...
Other editions - View all
Echoes of War: A Thousand Years of Military History in Popular Culture Michael C.C. Adams Limited preview - 2021 |
Echoes of War: A Thousand Years of Military History in Popular Culture Michael C. C. Adams No preview available - 2002 |
Echoes of War: A Thousand Years of Military History in Popular Culture Michael C.C. Adams No preview available - 2002 |