The Civil War in Popular Culture

"An important read for anyone trying to sort through the current social and political controversy over the question of how do we memorialize the Civil War." -Strategy Page

Dividing the nation for four years, the American Civil War resulted in 750,000 casualties and forever changed the country's destiny. The conflict continues to resonate in our collective memory, and U.S. economic, cultural, and social structures still suffer the aftershocks of the nation's largest and most devastating war. Over a century and a half later, portrayals of the war in books, songs, cinema, and other cultural media continue to draw widespread attention and controversy.

In The Civil War in Popular Culture: Memory and Meaning, editors Lawrence A. Kreiser Jr. and Randal Allred analyze American depictions of the war across a variety of mediums, from books and film to monuments and battlefield reunions to reenactments and board games. This collection examines how battle strategies, famous generals, and the nuances of Civil War politics translate into contemporary popular culture. This unique analysis assesses the intersection of the Civil War and popular culture by recognizing how memories and commemorations of the war have changed since it ended in 1865.

Autorentext

Lawrence A. Kreiser Jr. is associate professor history at Stillman College. He is a coeditor of Popular Culture Values and the Arts: Essays on Elitism versus Democratization and The Detective as Historian: History and Art in Historical Crime Fiction.

Inhalt

Introduction
Really, Though, I'm Fine: Civil War Veterans and the Psychological Aftereffects of Killing
Traumatized Manhood: Confederate Amputees in History, Memory and Hollywood
Relics of Reunion: Souvenirs and Memory at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, 1889 - 1895
The Graying of Gettysburg National Military Park: Race, Erasure, Ideology, and Iconography
Civil War Battlefields for Future Generations: The Relationship between Battlefield Preservation and Popular Culture
The Cultural Politics of Memory: Confederate Women and General William T. Sherman
Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye: The Civil War Navy in Public Memory
From History to Fiction: Abraham Lincoln's Most Famous Murder Trial and the Limits of Dramatic License
The Depiction of Combat in Glory
The War in Cardboard and Ink: Fifty Years of Board Wargames on the Civil War
Oh, I'm a Good Ol' Rebel: Modern-Day Civil War Reenactors and Reenactments
Untangling the Webs of the Civil War and reconstruction in the Popular Culture Imagination