1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910464251403321

Autore

Bodnar John E. <1944->

Titolo

The "Good War" in American memory / / John Bodnar

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Baltimore : , : Johns Hopkins University Press, , 2010

ISBN

1-4214-0002-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (x, 299 p. ) : ill. ;

Disciplina

940.53/73

Soggetti

World War, 1939-1945 - Social aspects - United States

Collective memory - United States

Memory - Social aspects - United States

War and society - United States

National characteristics, American

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Wartime -- Soldiers write the war -- "No place for weaklings" -- Monuments and mourning -- The split screen -- The outsiders -- The victors -- Conclusion -- Postscript on Iraq.

Sommario/riassunto

"2003 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice." "An uncommonly well balanced account of the political biases of American movies ... A fine read for the generalist yet a scholarly achievement."---Choice. "You cannot but be seduced and even sometimes bedazzled by Bodnar's clear, well-informed and impartial analysis."---Cercles. "Bodnar provides a useful provocation. He asks us to think imaginatively about the subtle and complex ways movies communicate ideas and attitudes."---Journal of American History. "Open minded and even handed, he appreciates the nuances and mixed messages of Hollywood cinema."---American Historical Review. "The "Good War" in American Memory dispels the long-held myth that Americans forged an agreement on why they had to fight in World War II. John Bodnar's sociocultural examination of the vast public debate that took place in the United States over the war's meaning reveals that the idea of the "good war" was highly contested." "Bodnar's comprehensive study of the disagreements that marked the American remembrance of World War II



in the six decades following its end draws on an array of sources: fiction and nonfiction, movies, theater, and public monuments. He identifies alternative strands of memory---tragic and brutal versus heroic and virtuous---and reconstructs controversies involving veterans, minorities, and memorials. In building this narrative, Bodnar shows how the idealism of President Franklin Roosevelt's Four Freedoms was lost in the public commemoration of World War II, how the war's memory became intertwined in the larger discussion over American national identity, and how it only came to be known as the "good war" many years after its conclusion."--BOOK JACKET.