These Honored Dead
Subtitle: How the Story of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Published: November 11, 2003
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 246
ISBN-13: 9780306812675
Subjects: American history: c 1800 to c 1900; Battles & campaigns; Civil war; History of ideas, intellectual history; c 1800 to c 1900; Nationalism; U.S. History - Civil War And Reconstruction (1860-1877); History - General History; History - U.S; History: American; USA; United States - Civil War; Historiography; Political Ideologies - Nationalism; Civil War, 1861-1865; Gettysburg, Battle of, Gettysb; Gettysburg, Battle of, Gettysburg, Pa., 1863; History; Influence; Memory; National characteristics, American; Social aspects; United States
First sentence: After the motorcade halted at the base of an observation tower in the midst of the Gettysburg battlefield, President Dwight Eisenhower stepped out of the car just ahead of his guest, British general Bernard Montgomery.
Description: "How did the story of Gettysburg evolve? Why did the battle become a legend? And how much truth is behind the myth? For seven score years, Americans have shaped and altered the national memory of the battle, fashioning the story of Gettysburg to reflect our changing culture and national character. Now Thomas A. Desjardin, a prominent Civil War historian and keen cultural observer, demonstrates how flawed our knowledge of this enormous event has become and why that has happened. This is, in effect, a biography of a story - the story of Gettysburg."--Jacket.