| A Date Which Will Live: Pearl Harbor in American Memory Contributor(s): Rosenberg, Emily S. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0822336375 ISBN-13: 9780822336372 Publisher: Duke University Press OUR PRICE: $25.60 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: August 2005 Annotation: "Emily S. Rosenberg has written a splendid history of the contested memories of Pearl Harbor over the past sixty years, memories that frame American opinions of everything from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's war against the Axis to President George W. Bush's war against the axis of evil."--James M. McPherson, author of "Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg ""To trace and analyze the changing images of the Pearl Harbor attack held by generations of Americans is a daunting task, requiring the skills of a seasoned cultural and social historian. Emily S. Rosenberg superbly fits the requirements. This is the best, perhaps the only, study of the Pearl Harbor icon."--Akira Iriye, author of "Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War" "Emily S. Rosenberg has given us a fine, concise study of war, memory, and mythmaking in America that will prove equally appealing to teachers, students, and general readers."--John W. Dower, author of "Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II" "Emily Rosenberg understands that over timecultural symbols that matter in any society are manipulated by all kinds of agents and invested with various meanings. Her insightful book demonstrates well that, during and after World War II, Pearl Harbor meant much more to Americans than the opening battle of a war."--John Bodnar, "Pacific Historical Review" |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Military - World War Ii - History | United States - 20th Century |
| Dewey: 940.542 |
| Series: American Encounters/Global Interactions |
| Physical Information: 0.63" H x 5.36" W x 8.66" (0.67 lbs) 248 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1940's - Chronological Period - 20th Century |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: December 7, 1941-the date of Japan's surprise attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor-is "a date which will live" in American history and memory, but the stories that will live and the meanings attributed to them are hardly settled. In movies, books, and magazines, at memorial sites and public ceremonies, and on television and the internet, Pearl Harbor lives in a thousand guises and symbolizes dozens of different historical lessons. In A Date Which Will Live, historian Emily S. Rosenberg examines the contested meanings of Pearl Harbor in American culture. Rosenberg considers the emergence of Pearl Harbor's symbolic role within multiple contexts: as a day of infamy that highlighted the need for future U.S. military preparedness, as an attack that opened a "back door" to U.S. involvement in World War II, as an event of national commemoration, and as a central metaphor in American-Japanese relations. She explores the cultural background that contributed to Pearl Harbor's resurgence in American memory after the fiftieth anniversary of the attack in 1991. In doing so, she discusses the recent "memory boom" in American culture; the movement to exonerate the military commanders at Pearl Harbor, Admiral Husband Kimmel and General Walter Short; the political mobilization of various groups during the culture and history "wars" of the 1990s, and the spectacle surrounding the movie Pearl Harbor. Rosenberg concludes with a look at the uses of Pearl Harbor as a historical frame for understanding the events of September 11, 2001. |