
Commemorations
The Politics of National Identity
John R. Gillis(Editor)
Princeton University Press
Published on 6. October 1996
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-0-691-02925-2 (ISBN)
Description
Memory is as central to modern politics as politics is central to modern memory. We are so accustomed to living in a forest of monuments, to having the past represented to us through museums, historic sites, and public sculpture, that we easily lose sight of the recent origins and diverse meanings of these uniquely modern phenomena. In this volume, leading historians, anthropologists, and ethnographers explore the relationship between collective memory and national identity in diverse cultures throughout history. Placing commemorations in their historical settings, the contributors disclose the contested nature of these monuments by showing how groups and individuals struggle to shape the past to their own ends. The volume is introduced by John Gillis's broad overview of the development of public memory in relation to the history of the nation-state.
Other contributions address the usefulness of identity as a cross-cultural concept (Richard Handler), the connection between identity, heritage, and history (David Lowenthal), national memory in early modern England (David Cressy), commemoration in Cleveland (John Bodnar), the museum and the politics of social control in modern Iraq (Eric Davis), invented tradition and collective memory in Israel (Yael Zerubavel), black emancipation and the civil war monument (Kirk Savage), memory and naming in the Great War (Thomas Laqueur), American commemoration of World War I (Kurt Piehler), art, commerce, and the production of memory in France after World War I (Daniel Sherman), historic preservation in twentieth-century Germany (Rudy Koshar), the struggle over French identity in the early twentieth century (Herman Lebovics), and the commemoration of concentration camps in the new Germany (Claudia Koonz).
Other contributions address the usefulness of identity as a cross-cultural concept (Richard Handler), the connection between identity, heritage, and history (David Lowenthal), national memory in early modern England (David Cressy), commemoration in Cleveland (John Bodnar), the museum and the politics of social control in modern Iraq (Eric Davis), invented tradition and collective memory in Israel (Yael Zerubavel), black emancipation and the civil war monument (Kirk Savage), memory and naming in the Great War (Thomas Laqueur), American commemoration of World War I (Kurt Piehler), art, commerce, and the production of memory in France after World War I (Daniel Sherman), historic preservation in twentieth-century Germany (Rudy Koshar), the struggle over French identity in the early twentieth century (Herman Lebovics), and the commemoration of concentration camps in the new Germany (Claudia Koonz).
Reviews / Votes
"This fascinating book, ... points out how peoples and nations can use national identity to erase the past, to recreate it, to cause it to flourish, to meld it in with the present and the future."--Peter Rollins, Journal of American Culture "Brilliantly conceived and meticulously edited; the contributions are uniformly excellent... No better introduction to the burgeoning field of historical memory is likely to be found."--Merrill D. Peterson, The Journal of American History "Scholars of collective memory, and the sociology of culture more generally, will find much that is provocative and poignant in this collection."--Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Contemporary Sociology "This is a vital book which deserves our utmost attention."--Martin Evans, History Today "Demonstrates that 'memory work' reveals as much about the present as about the past. And that can make extraordinary history."--Christine Schwartz, The Voice Literary SupplementMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
25 halftones
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
496 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-02925-2 (9780691029252)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
11/2018
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
€46.49
Available for download
Person
John R. Gillis is Professor of History at Rutgers University. His most recent book is A World of Their Own Making: Myth, Ritual, and the Quest for Family Values.
Content
AcknowledgmentsNotes on ContributorsIntroduction: Memory and Identity: The History of a Relationship3Ch. IIs "Identity" a Useful Cross-Cultural Concept?27Ch. IIIdentity, Heritage, and History41Ch. IIINational Memory in Early Modern England61Ch. IVPublic Memory in an American City: Commemoration in Cleveland74Ch. VThe Museum and the Politics of Social Control in Modern Iraq90Ch. VIThe Historic, the Legendary, and the Incredible: Invented Tradition and Collective Memory in Israel105Ch. VIIThe Politics of Memory: Black Emancipation and the Civil War Monument127Ch. VIIIMemory and Naming in the Great War150Ch. IXThe War Dead and the Gold Star: American Commemoration of the First World War168Ch. XArt, Commerce, and the Production of Memory in France after World War I186Ch. XIBuilding Pasts: Historic Preservation and Identity in Twentieth-Century Germany215Ch. XIICreating the Authentic France: Struggles over French Identity in the First Half of the Twentieth Century239Ch. XIIIBetween Memory and Oblivion: Concentration Camps in German Memory258Index281