Customer Reviews

History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past

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It's true, as one of the other reviewers points out, that this book if full of largely liberal-slanted arguments--and mostly criticisms--of the effort to change or cancel the Enola Gay exhibit at the Smithsonian in 1995. You will not find a "balanced" set of viewpoints here--they are all clearly critical of the largely conservative movement that prevented the original exhibit from going forward. This slanted viewpoint, however, is not a failing. Indeed, a book such as this was--and is--necessary, since the views of academic historians were largely drowned out during the cacophony of negative attention given to the exhibit during the 90s. Although some of the observations are dated (e.g., that conservatives have no strong interest in increasing U.S. power overseas in the aftermath of the Cold War) nearly every point they make about the dichotomy between professional historians and scholars and the general public--especially political and cultural conservaties--remain very relevent today. This is a worthwhile read if you want to see a test case for how real scholarship gets treated in the public sphere in today's political climate.

A revealing analysis of the political and historical conflicts revolving around the 1995 Smithsonian Air and Space exhibit on the Enola Gay and Post-War America. Through insightful disection of both sides of the Enola Gay exhibit and of post-war America, Linenthal and Engelhardt make an interesting modern dilemma into a more interesting read. Recommended to anyone who has an interest in the Cold War and of the effects of the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima on American and Japanese civilizations.

First of all, this book isn't really about the Enola Gay, or honestly about any of the events that happen within the chapters. This book is about pubic ownership of common histories. When the Enola Gay bombed, for instance, the dominant culture was behind act. Still today, many people are in favor of the act, but in our public spaces, there are of course those who see it differently. This book is about how museums display public history; and, this book is about several problems with perspective that have arisen from narrow minded portrayals of a history lived by many more than the dominant culture. It is a good book worthy of a fair reading. History can both unite and divide our country. It is important that we at least consider the two sides. If you are considering any type of museum career, this book is a very important read.

This is a collection of essays centered around the controversy that surrounded the Smithsonian's plans to display the Enola Gay for the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII. It highlights how politically charged the past has become, and the fundamental controversy that has grown up between those who wish to keep rose-colored glasses on the look at the American past and those who want to look at all of the past, not just the victorious parts. This is a frustrating but highly engaging read for both historians and the general public. It might raise your hackles a little, though.

Although it has now been fifteen years since "History Wars" was published and some of the content is a bit dated, it is still an important book for the critical issues that it raises. During the early 1990s, the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian planned to hold an exhibit about the Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The planned exhibit would examine both the mission to drop the bombs and the impact that the bombs had on Japan. But with the support of the then newly elected Republican Congress, conservatives derailed the exhibition before it could even be opened, charging that it reflected the biases of leftist, "revisionist" historians and failed to sufficiently honor the patriotism of American military servicemen. The essays in this book provide, for the most part, the perspectives of historians who supported the exhibit. They attempt to demonstrate that honestly inquiring into the historical facts does not necessarily make one unpatriotic. Although there is a definite ideological slant to the essays, given the fact that the exhibition was cancelled and the director of the National Air and Space Museum was forced to resign over the issue, it seems fair that the schoilars who supported the government should be given a chance to make their case to the public. It is truly a case of history being told by the losers. Today, the book is still used in History graduate classes and justifiably so. It provides a compelling example of how certain historical myths and narratives are difficult to challenge and or question. And it shows how politicians and other groups who have a stake in preserving these myths can suppress legitimate debate. Although some of the political urgency that surrounded the book's publication has faded, the enduring issues that it raises persist.

This book is an excellent example of Politically Correct elitist nonsense. From the PC arrogance such as not just displaying the Enola Gay because the "public did not have an adequate understanding with which to view it" to the ludicrous "connection" of American "homophobia" due the word "Gay" in Enola Gay (!!) to the tie-in with "Rambo" movies and our Vietnam experinces, this book trots out every morally bankrupt Leftist cliche that ever existed, and then some. However, it is an EXCELLENT book as typical of the arrogant PC/leftist mind set and ability to ignore reality.