Free Downloads These Honored Dead: How The Story Of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory
Ever since the guns of Gettysburg fell silent, and Lincoln delivered his famous two-minute speech four months after the battle, the story of this three-day conflict has become an American legend. We remember Gettysburg as, perhaps, the biggest, bloodiest, and most important battle ever fought-the defining conflict in American history. But how much truth is behind the legend?In These Honored Dead, Thomas A. Desjardin, a prominent Civil War historian and a perceptive cultural observer, demonstrates how flawed our knowledge of this enormous event has become, and why. He examines how Americans, for seven score years, have shaped, used, altered, and sanctified our national memory, fashioning the story of Gettysburg as a reflection of, and testimony to, our culture and our nation.
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Da Capo Press; Reprint edition (November 3, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0306813823
ISBN-13: 978-0306813825
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #243,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #56 in Books > History > Americas > United States > Civil War > Campaigns & Battlefields > Gettysburg #127 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Ideologies & Doctrines > Nationalism #184 in Books > History > Historical Study & Educational Resources > Historiography
If you type "Gettysburg" into this site's search engine, you'll find more than 500 books that include the name of that famous battle in their title. It's likely that more has been written about those three days at the beginning of July, 1863, than any other battle in the history of the United States. Yet in "These Honored Dead" Thomas A. Desjardin brings fresh insights to the Gettysburg saga by beginning his account on July 4, 1863--the day after the guns fell silent.In this thoughtful work, Desjardin explores the legends and myths that have developed around Gettysburg in the ensuing decades. He argues that the actual record of what happened has been open to conflicting interpretation by just about any group or individual with enough persuasive ability to bend the story to its own purposes "History has a way of coming out as we hoped it would rather than the way things really happened," he observes, then spends the next several chapters exploring how the reality of the conflict has been obscured, through accidental or deliberate misinterpretation. In the first decades after the battle, it might have been a disgraced officer seeking to salvage his reputation; in more recent times, it's likely to have been a novelist or filmmaker in search of a dramatic hero or moment to illuminate his story. But whatever the motives, the result has been to shroud the reality of those days in myth.In one chapter, Desjardin considers the conflicting versions on what happened on Little Round Top. Certainly it's a pivotal spot on the battlefield; but if we can't determine the truth of what happened on a piece of real estate barely 100 yards wide, how can we hope to sort out the myths from the reality of the battle as a whole?
Thomas A. Desjardin's _These Honored Dead_ is a decent introduction to some of the popular myths that have spawned and lingered from Gettysburg since the battle occurred. The popularized version of Gettysburg from Michael Shaara's _The Killer Angels_ (1974), Ted Turner's _Gettysburg_ (1993), and Ken Burn's _The Civil War_ (1990) have ensured that millions of visitors come to the battlefield each year, but Desjardin argues that the majority of these visitors are seeking a distorted, incomplete, and exaggerated story. With a PhD in history and years of experience providing tours at Gettysburg, he has the credentials to address these myths.Desjardin is not afraid to slaughter any sacred cows. He does not just question the importance of Little Round Top (it was not), whether Chamberlain actually ordered the famous bayonet charge (he did not), or whether the Confederates aimed for the "copse of trees" during their final assault (they aimed for Cemetery Hill), but Desjardin questions the overall importance of the battle in the scope of the war. Civil War buffs may find these topics to be outdated trivia, but the author provides insight into how modern-day historians and entertainers simply built on the myths that the contemporary historians and even participants initiated. Desjardin sees it as human nature to want to be part of an important experience and as a result, participants tended to inflate or perpetuate myths so as not to be left out of the post-battle glory.The book provides a decent chapter on the Meade-Sickles controversy that helped shape many of the early beliefs of the war that still exist today.
These Honored Dead: How The Story Of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory Quantum Memory Power: Learn to Improve Your Memory with the World Memory Champion! The Maps of Gettysburg: An Atlas of the Gettysburg Campaign, June 3 - July 13, 1863 Sickles at Gettysburg: The Controversial Civil War General Who Committed Murder, Abandoned Little Round Top, and Declared Himself the Hero of Gettysburg This Day in Sports History: Historic Events and Time-Honored Traditions 2015 Boxed Calendar 250 Treasured Country Desserts: Mouthwatering, Time-honored, Tried & True, Soul-satisfying, Handed-down Sweet Comforts Best Tips and Tricks for Soap Making: Time Honored Soap Making Techniques Eschatology, Messianism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature, V. 1) (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls & Related Literature) The Microsoft Guide to Managing Memory With MS-DOS 6: Installing, Configuring, and Optimizing Memory for MS-DOS and Windows Operating Systems Mosby's Fluids & Electrolytes Memory NoteCards: Visual, Mnemonic, and Memory Aids for Nurses, 2e Mosby's Pharmacology Memory NoteCards: Visual, Mnemonic, and Memory Aids for Nurses, 4e Mosby's OB/Peds & Women's Health Memory NoteCards: Visual, Mnemonic, and Memory Aids for Nurses, 1e Mosby's Assessment Memory NoteCards: Visual, Mnemonic, and Memory Aids for Nurses, 2e Mosby's Pathophysiology Memory NoteCards: Visual, Mnemonic, and Memory Aids for Nurses, 2e How to Learn & Memorize a Randomized Deck of Playing Cards ... Using a Memory Palace and Image-Association System Specifically Designed for Card Memorization Mastery (Magnetic Memory Series) How to Remember Names and Faces: Master the Art of Memorizing Anyone's Name by Practicing w Over 500 Memory Training Exercises of People's Faces | Improve ... (Better Memory Now | Remember Names Book 1) How to Learn & Memorize Legal Terminology: ...Using a Memory Palace Specifically Designed for Memorizing the Law & its Precedents (Magnetic Memory Series) The Project Management Memory Jogger (Second Edition) (Memory Jogger Series) The Memory Code: The Traditional Aboriginal Memory Technique That Unlocks the Secrets of Stonehenge, Easter Island and Ancient Monuments the World Over How to Learn and Memorize English Grammar Rules: Using a Memory Palace Network Specifically Designed for the English Language, Magnetic Memory Series
