How objective are our history books? In this most recent addition to the Writing History series, Writing the History of Memory examines the critical role that memory plays in the writing of history.
This book is essential reading for any students wanting to understand how the past has been remembered. Memory is often thought to be the much more subjective form of history, but this book points to the many forms of memory that make up our interpretation of history. Museums, exhibitions, memorials and speeches are all forms of public history that this collection brings together and analyzes.
Written by specialists in the field, Writing the History of Memory examines topics such as oral history, generational and collective memory. It provides a groundbreaking introduction into the application of memory theory by historians.
Table of Contents
Introduction / Memory and History in the Ancient World / The Uses of Memory in the Carolingian Era / History-writing on the Relationship between Politics and National Memory / Generation and Collective Memory: A Conceptual-Methodological Exploration / Memory as both Source and Subject of Study: The Transformations of Oral History' / Pierre Nora's Lieux de Memoire and the Links between Memory and Identity / Writing the History of Memorials and Memorial Practice / Writing the Museum / The 'Memoriography' of the Holocaust: Issues and Debates / On the Memory of Communisim in Central Europe
Introduction - Bill Niven (Nottingham Trent University, UK) and Stefan Berger (Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Germany) 1. Memory and History in the Ancient World - Gordon Shrimpton (Professor Emeritus, University of Victoria, Canada) 2. Memory and History in the Middle Ages - Kimberly Rivers (University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, USA) 3. History-writing and 'Collective Memory' - Mary Fulbrook (UCL, UK) 4. Memory as both Source and Subject of Study: The Transformations of Oral History - Lynn Abrams (University of Glasgow, UK) 5. Generation and Memory: A Critique of the Ethical and Ideological Implications of Generational Narration - Wulf Kansteiner (Binghamton University, USA) 6. Writing the History of National Memory - Stefan Berger and Bill Niven 7. Lieux de memoire - A European Transfer Story - Benoit Majerus (University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg) 8. On the Memory of Communism in Eastern and Central Europe - Attila Pok (Resarch Centre for Humanities of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary) 9. Holocaust Memoriography and the Impact of Memory on the Historiography of the Holocaust - Peter Carrier (Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research, Germany) 10. History and Memorialisation - Richard Crownshaw (Goldsmiths, University of London, UK)
Reviews for Writing the History of Memory
The collection includes essays on oral history, generational and collective memory, and memorialisation, each one with a list of further reading, making the book an excellent point of entry into the field. -- Stuart MacIntyre, University of Melbourne, Australia Australian Journal of Politics and History
