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. |
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... women. For the culture that triumphed in 1066 was dominated by male, military values. The primary source of wealth and power at this time was landholding. In a cash or capital short economy, land, held as an estate or feu, was leased in ...
... women; a mann was now a man-at-arms. Women also lost status in the church, seen by Normans as the spiritual battalion of God's army on Earth and therefore inherently masculine; women were enjoined to subordination and to silence. The ...
... women enter only as a chorus line to applaud male fighting prowess, or as the spoils of war, along with captured lands and arms. Thus, a Saracen lord, encouraging his men to battle, cries in stanza 245: “I'll give you women, noble and ...
... women remained subordinate to men and served in many ways as objects, even if of desire, their status improved and some achieved real power in a society not quite so rigidly military. To the knight in his solid stone home, surrounded by ...
... women had improved and some were important political players. Elizabeth feared Richard, for she had a major role in the 1478 execution for treason of his brother Clarence. She hoped for a Council of Regents in which Richard would be ...
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 |