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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... individual, memory is selective and tends over time to simplify the complexity of events into a digestible and satisfying pattern. To be remembered, an event must have historical or symbolic significance for a society. Yet it also seems ...
... individual freedom as they go forth on adventures, relying on their signature weapons, the couched lance or Winchester repeating rifle, the sword or six-gun, to deal with all occurrences. They ride literally and symbolically.
... individual character. With the urbanization and industrialization of the nineteenth century came a concern that individualism was being lost. People dressed more alike through off-the-peg clothing, lived in houses with mass-produced ...
... individual targets are not chosen. It is the weight of fire that counts. Under these circumstances, individual acts of heroism are difficult, even irrelevant. Flag waving counts for nothing in the face of a storm of steel and the noble ...
... individual soldiers could be Christian paladins like the crusaders of old, and that one heroic individual could still make the difference. Such a one was the eccentric Charles Gordon, who died at Khartoum, stubbornly disobeying orders ...
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 |