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The Resource Channeling the past : politicizing history in postwar America, Erik Christiansen

Channeling the past : politicizing history in postwar America, Erik Christiansen

Creator
Summary
"After the turmoil of the Great Depression and World War II, Americans looked to the nation's more distant past for lessons to inform its uncertain future. By applying recent and emerging techniques in mass communication--including radio and television programs and commercial book clubs--American elites working in media, commerce, and government used history to confer authority on their respective messages. With insight and wit, Erik Christiansen uncovers in Channeling the Past the ways that powerful corporations rewrote history to strengthen the postwar corporate state, while progressives, communists, and other leftists vied to make their own versions of the past more popular. Christiansen looks closely at several notable initiatives--CBS's flashback You Are There program; the Smithsonian Museum of American History, constructed in the late 1950s; the Cavalcade of America program sponsored by the Du Pont Company; the History Book Club; and the Freedom Train, a museum on rails that traveled the country from 1947 to 1949 exhibiting historic documents and flags, including original copies of the U.S. Constitution and the Magna Carta. It is often said that history is written by the victors, but Christiansen offers a more nuanced perspective: history is constantly remade to suit the objectives of those with the resources to do it. He provides dramatic evidence of sophisticated calculations that influenced both public opinion and historical memory, and shows that Americans' relationships with the past changed as a result."--Publisher's website
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
xiv, 302 pages
Contents
  • Introduction : History's past presence
  • The History Book Club offers the past as an "image of ourselves"
  • Mythologizing history on Du Pont's Cavalcade of America
  • History, news, and You are There
  • The Feedom Train's narrow-gauge iconography
  • Building a "National Shrine" at the National Museum of American History
  • Conclusion : Once and future truths
Isbn
9780299289034
Instance
Label
Channeling the past : politicizing history in postwar America
Title
Channeling the past
Title remainder
politicizing history in postwar America
Statement of responsibility
Erik Christiansen
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
"After the turmoil of the Great Depression and World War II, Americans looked to the nation's more distant past for lessons to inform its uncertain future. By applying recent and emerging techniques in mass communication--including radio and television programs and commercial book clubs--American elites working in media, commerce, and government used history to confer authority on their respective messages. With insight and wit, Erik Christiansen uncovers in Channeling the Past the ways that powerful corporations rewrote history to strengthen the postwar corporate state, while progressives, communists, and other leftists vied to make their own versions of the past more popular. Christiansen looks closely at several notable initiatives--CBS's flashback You Are There program; the Smithsonian Museum of American History, constructed in the late 1950s; the Cavalcade of America program sponsored by the Du Pont Company; the History Book Club; and the Freedom Train, a museum on rails that traveled the country from 1947 to 1949 exhibiting historic documents and flags, including original copies of the U.S. Constitution and the Magna Carta. It is often said that history is written by the victors, but Christiansen offers a more nuanced perspective: history is constantly remade to suit the objectives of those with the resources to do it. He provides dramatic evidence of sophisticated calculations that influenced both public opinion and historical memory, and shows that Americans' relationships with the past changed as a result."--Publisher's website
Member of
Cataloging source
WU/DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1974-
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Christiansen, Erik
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
Series statement
Studies in American thought and culture
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Public history
  • History in popular culture
  • Mass media and history
  • Histoire appliquée
  • Histoire dans la culture populaire
  • Médias et histoire
  • History in popular culture
  • Mass media and history
  • United States
  • Geschichtswissenschaft
  • Politik
  • USA
Label
Channeling the past : politicizing history in postwar America, Erik Christiansen
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-295) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Introduction : History's past presence -- The History Book Club offers the past as an "image of ourselves" -- Mythologizing history on Du Pont's Cavalcade of America -- History, news, and You are There -- The Feedom Train's narrow-gauge iconography -- Building a "National Shrine" at the National Museum of American History -- Conclusion : Once and future truths
Control code
781939948
Dimensions
23 cm.
Extent
xiv, 302 pages
Isbn
9780299289034
Lccn
2012011999
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Note
WorldCat record variable field(s) change: 650, 651
Other control number
40021956213
System control number
(OCoLC)781939948
Label
Channeling the past : politicizing history in postwar America, Erik Christiansen
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-295) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Introduction : History's past presence -- The History Book Club offers the past as an "image of ourselves" -- Mythologizing history on Du Pont's Cavalcade of America -- History, news, and You are There -- The Feedom Train's narrow-gauge iconography -- Building a "National Shrine" at the National Museum of American History -- Conclusion : Once and future truths
Control code
781939948
Dimensions
23 cm.
Extent
xiv, 302 pages
Isbn
9780299289034
Lccn
2012011999
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Note
WorldCat record variable field(s) change: 650, 651
Other control number
40021956213
System control number
(OCoLC)781939948

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