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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).
List of contents
| Acknowledgments | |
| Notes on Contributors | |
| Introduction: Memory and Identity: The History of a Relationship | 3 |
| Ch. I | Is "Identity" a Useful Cross-Cultural Concept? | 27 |
| Ch. II | Identity, Heritage, and History | 41 |
| Ch. III | National Memory in Early Modern England | 61 |
| Ch. IV | Public Memory in an American City: Commemoration in Cleveland | 74 |
| Ch. V | The Museum and the Politics of Social Control in Modern Iraq | 90 |
| Ch. VI | The Historic, the Legendary, and the Incredible: Invented Tradition and Collective Memory in Israel | 105 |
| Ch. VII | The Politics of Memory: Black Emancipation and the Civil War Monument | 127 |
| Ch. VIII | Memory and Naming in the Great War | 150 |
| Ch. IX | The War Dead and the Gold Star: American Commemoration of the First World War | 168 |
| Ch. X | Art, Commerce, and the Production of Memory in France after World War I | 186 |
| Ch. XI | Building Pasts: Historic Preservation and Identity in Twentieth-Century Germany | 215 |
| Ch. XII | Creating the Authentic France: Struggles over French Identity in the First Half of the Twentieth Century | 239 |
| Ch. XIII | Between Memory and Oblivion: Concentration Camps in German Memory | 258 |
| Index | 281 |
About the author
Edited by John R. Gillis
Summary
Memory is as central to modern politics as politics is central to modern memory. This book explores the relationship between collective memory and national identity in diverse cultures throughout history. It discloses the contested nature of various monuments by showing how groups and individuals struggle to shape the past to their own ends.
Additional text
"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 Supplement
