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Dismantling Glory

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DISMANTLING GLORY works with the writings of real soldiers who made poetry from war.
This book shows how soldiers attitudes toward the traditional glory of war has changed
since the days of Byron and the residue of heraldry and heroism touted by "Chateau
Generals" and upper class and college educated officers who seemed never to get into the trenches, though there were exceptions,some who also wrote transformative poems.
A sobering, honest and beautifully written analysis of a major change of mind.

To say that a book of criticism is "readable" these days is no small matter. Much contemporary criticism, especially if it contains a political component, is so highly obfuscated that even other academics disdain to read it, except perhaps as a soporific for insomniacs. If you don't believe that, ask any university press how their sales are these days.

Blessedly, "Dismantling Glory" is an excellent book-length essay on war poetry that treats the poetry as well as the subject. As with the graceful writing of Walter Benjamin, it is every bit as intellectually vigorous as high theory without the pretentious language. War poetry has always held a strange place in the various canons, in spite of the fact that much of great literature concerns war; from Homer to the present. Goldensohn's excellent book integrates war poetry into a large literary overview, with erudition and respect. A great read.