Echoes of War: A Thousand Years of Military History in Popular CultureUniversity Press of Kentucky, 2021 M10 21 - 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. |
From inside the book
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... Henry V (about Agincourt) in 1989 and Ian McKellen adapted Richard III (about Bosworth) in 1995. The man who did most to memorialize knighthood as it was passing into history, Sir Thomas Malory, has had many disciples eager to keep ...
... Henry V wished to take back lands claimed by England in France and won away by the French during the unstable reign of Henry IV, when the English aristocracy had taken to quarreling among themselves. A danger of feudalism was that a ...
... Henry set sail from Portsmouth. An armada of fifteen hundred ships carried eight thousand archers and two thousand men-at-arms of all ranks. Henry laid siege to the port of Harfleur, a potential beachhead for further operations. Things ...
... Henry V contains some of the finest images in the English language of humanity exalted and devastated by war. There have been two fine modern movie versions of the play. In each case, the return to Henry V was stimulated by events that ...
... Henry must execute for pillaging some of his own men, personal drinking companions of his youth. Beaten up and bloodied by the provost's guard, they strangle by hanging. Probably both films contain elements of truth about the nature of ...
Other editions - View all
Echoes of War: A Thousand Years of Military History in Popular Culture Michael C.C. Adams Limited preview - 2014 |
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 |