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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... weapons, they also fight with swords and lances; their leaders are counts, dukes, and even a “troubadour-warrior.” We might include here also the Star Wars sequence, which is in part a high-tech retelling of the Arthurian legends, with ...
... weapons to hurt horse and knight in this close-quarters exchange. But the new cavalry tactic coming into use at Hastings gave much more power to the horseman: instead of carrying the lance overhead to jab down with it, he couched it ...
... weapon in the hands of the lower orders, an asset to outlaws and even rebels. It is not coincidence that the legendary Robin Hood, who may well have been based on a real outlaw operating in Yorkshire at the start of the fourteenth ...
... weapon in the hands of the underdog and so it is appropriate that Morgan Freeman, a man of color, from a traditionally repressed ethnic group, should play Robin's lieutenant in the recent Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. It was noted by ...
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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 |