Remaking America: Public Memory, Commemoration, and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century [Paperback]

John Bodnar (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0691034958 | ISBN-13: 978-0691034959 | Publication Date: December 27, 1993

In a compelling inquiry into public events ranging from the building of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial through ethnic community fairs to pioneer celebrations, John Bodnar explores the stories, ideas, and symbols behind American commemorations over the last century. Such forms of historical consciousness, he argues, do not necessarily preserve the past but rather address serious political matters in the present.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ideally, public recognition of a national past would include society's diverse elements in commemorative activities. Or so asserts University of Indiana history professor Bodnar in this relevant, readable social history. But as he tells it, the rise of an American industrial and cultural elite during the 20th century was accompanied by consolidation of a nation-state, federally strengthened by the two world wars and by the Cold War. The author charges that the U.S. employs symbols of "pride and patriotism" with which it seeks to unite citizens and preserve the political interests of its dominant social and economic class. However, notes Bodner, official interpretation of the past and present is now being challenged by racial, immigrant ethnic, regional and local interests, and by others seeking personal identification within the public memory. "The present," the author concludes, "is no longer seen as something that emerged neatly and purposefully from the past." Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Here, social-historian Bodnar (Indiana Univ.) offers a moderately enticing analysis of the dynamic between national agendas and local attitudes as it surfaces in public ceremonies and commemorations. Bodnar first offers an overview of the interaction in American history between official culture, or the manifestations of state interest, and ``vernacular culture,'' the particular emphases of local and ethnic groups. These are the poles between which activity surrounding national holidays, anniversaries, and the construction of monuments is torn in Bodnar's formulation, with the recent example of the Vietnam Memorial cited as a resurgence of the vernacular over the official, of individual sorrow and loss over patriotic pride. Turning to specific communities in the Midwest, where immigrant groups provided a significant percentage of the population in this century, shifts in rural Swedish, Norwegian, and Mennonite celebrations in the last hundred years come under scrutiny, as do changes in ethnic-flavored civic events in Indianapolis and Cleveland. Official control of displays of public memory in the region is seen to increase with the century's advance, when patriotic passions inflamed by war and the ideology of the melting pot gain the upper hand. The existence of the National Park Service as a cadre of professionals dedicated to the control of national landmarks and commemorative events becomes the supreme example here of the institutionalization of that trend. Ponderous, although well-researched, and suffering also from being intuitively obvious, to the extent that anyone seeking revelation as to how a national identity is forged, and stamped on its citizens, will be disappointed. (Fifteen halftones--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 318 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (December 27, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691034958
• ISBN-13: 978-0691034959
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #458,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Which is more important, the facts of what actually happened in the past or the public memory of what took place?, January 30, 2006

By 

Roger D. Launius "Historian" (Washington, D.C., United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Remaking America: Public Memory, Commemoration, and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century (Paperback)

John Bodnar would certainly come down in favor of the construction of public memory. It is what defines American society, he insists, and he believes it can be and has been manipulated and altered as needed over time to serve the interests of the present. That is what commemorations are all about. The author argues in this social history of commemorations in the twentieth century United States that "pride and patriotism" dominated the cultural landscape as unifying elements of this nation. Moreover, Bodnar sees a fundamental divergence between what he calls "official memory," the explication of national themes through government-supported institutions and ceremonies such as those of the National Park Service, and "vernacular memory" expressed through local, grassroots efforts to commemorate some aspect of the past. Those "vernacular" commemorations are often built around local events and specific groups, especially ethnic ones. Through "a communicative process" between these two approaches to history, Bodnar believes, Americans construct their public memory. This is often a tense interaction with conflicting aims and messages surfacing that must be negotiated between the various participants in the commemoration.

Bodnar provides a set of case studies, especially in the American Midwest, exploring these various activities. His concentration on such communities as Indianapolis and Cleveland anchor the study to the large urban centers of Middle America, and his argument's transportability to other regions and groups is appropriate to question. Even so, there is at least some reason to view this dialogue between competing "official" and "vernacular" issues as a national tendency in my experience. I worked with the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the work of the Wright brothers in 2003. At the national level--an "official" memory of the event--emphasized not only the importance of the Wrights but also celebrated the evolution of flight over a century. Bodnar would see this as in keeping with past commemorative efforts, especially in its basic commitment to the idea of progress and improved well-being of the nation and its citizenry. The national commission worked with organized groups in both Dayton, Ohio, the hometown of the Wright brothers, and North Carolina, where they first successfully flew in 1903. In addition, such entities as aerospace-related professional and trade associations, federal agencies with a role in aerospace such as NASA and the FAA, aerospace corporations, and cultural institutions such as the Library of Congress and the National Park Service as well as state and local groups all had a place in the commemoration. So too did the Wright family. All of these various groups had different reasons for participating in this commemoration, possessed their own goals, and expressed sometimes conflicting priorities. Negotiating the competing voices was never easy, but it was always interesting, and in the end the various commemorative events, the dissemination of publications and educational materials, and the multi-media response was overall quite positive.

It is in the context of these competing "official" and "vernacular" issues and institutions that John Bodnar has raised some of his most interesting but, unfortunately, most problematic issues. He sees the nationally organized "official" commemorative approach as drowning out the "vernacular" perspectives of local groups. He never explicitly states it in these terms, but Bodnar seems to see a large-scale effort, perhaps even what some might characterize as a conspiracy, on the part of the national government to control the memory of these events for the purposes of the present. He suggests that "vernacular" concepts of memory undermine the national consensus attempted through these commemorations, and that simply will not do. Strong efforts from the federal level, therefore, have over time led to a lessening of cultural pluralism. To preserve what remains, and perhaps to retake the memory of our past, he insists, requires diligence on the part of all.

This argument requires that Bodnar establish the presence of an overarching quest for power on the part of Washington overlords taking an Orwellian approach to commemoration: "Those who control the past, control the future; Those who control the future, control the present; Those who control the present, control the past." I just don't see that level of control in any commemoration of which I have ever been a part, and there have been many others in addition to the centennial of flight. Certainly all have had their share of heterogeneous messages. In no case was there any attempt to establish a single message from above and all participating groups were free to approach the subject however they wished. This aspect of "Remaking America" is strong on assertion but short on demonstration.

Two final points in this regard. First, I tend to agree with Charles E. Lindblom who wrote a generation ago about what he characterized as the "science of `muddling through'," (See "The Science of `Muddling Through'," Public Administration Review 19 (1959): 79-88), and there was a fair measure of muddling through present in any commemoration of which I have ever been a part. In such an environment it is hard to accept a contention that there was some "master plan" present for controlling the "take away" memory of the events commemorated. Second, such scholars as Jurgen Habermas and Clifford Geertz have argued convincingly that commemorations allow an opportunity for a multitude of participants to draw diverse meanings from it. That certainly seems to have been the case in my experience as well.

This is a quite provocative and useful study of public memory and commemoration. John Bodnar is to be congratulated for raising these issues. While I do not agree with all of Bodnar's conclusions, his cases studies are outstanding and I certainly welcome his reflective and challenging perspective.