Mystic Chords Of Memory: The Transformation of Tradition in American Culture - Hardcover

Kammen, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0394577698 ISBN 13: 9780394577692

Publisher: Knopf, 1991

Synopsis

Assesses the role of collective memory, tradition, and patriotism in American national culture and the evolutions they have undergone

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Reviews

From Lincoln to FDR to Reagan, America's leaders have invoked a mythic past, and one of the merits of Cornell historian Kammen's massive study is to show that appeals to collective memory can be a means either of resisting change or abetting it. With brilliant erudition Kammen ( A Machine That Would Go of Itself ) clarifies the selective filtering of memory that shaped the traditions and self-images of Yankees, upstart Westerners, Southerners resentful of New Englanders, apologists for Puritan tradition and whites anxious to exclude blacks and Native Americans. He illuminates the clash between modern cosmopolites (e.g., Ezra Pound) and folksy regionalists (Carl Sandburg, Stephen Vincent Benet), then charts the wild trajectory of patriotic sentiment from the Vietnam war to the present. Finally, he looks at the current epidemic of nostalgia, concluding that even as Americans historicize the present, they depoliticize the past as a way to minimize conflict. An important contribution to our understanding of how Americans define themselves and the parameters of freedom. Illustrated. History Book Club selection.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An ambitious, wonderfully detailed investigation into the shifting perceptions of American cultural identity from Pulitzer Prize-winner (People of Paradox, 1973) Kammen (American History and Culture/Cornell; A Machine That Would Go of Itself, 1986, etc.). Taking his title from Lincoln's First Inaugural Address plea for national unity, Kammen asserts that, particularly in times of upheaval, ``a usable past has been needed to give shape and substance to national identity.'' Thus, the broad chronological division of the book into three postwar periods: 1870-1915, when the trauma of civil war and an influx of immigrants made history a mechanism for social and political unification; 1915-45, during which time the tensions of memory and modernism, populism and elitism, combined to forge a uniquely American aesthetic; and 1945- 90, an era of ``amnesia'' encompassing an intense interest in things historical and a shocking lack of specific knowledge. Throughout, the author masterfully untangles the threads of myth, tradition, and nostalgia underlying the curious ``ambiguities and dualisms'' of a nation stubbornly devoted to both past and future vision. Hence, there arose such very American anomalies as Henry Ford following up his transformation of working life and leisure (and his oft-quoted remark that ``History is more or less bunk'') with obsessive collecting and the creation of two ``living'' museums. Splendidly inclusive in the best, most delightful vein of intellectual history, in which no cultural artifact is discounted as trivial, Kammen's study offers a liberal sampling of high and low culture--literature and popular reading material; pageants and parades; art, architectural, and design trends; museums, theme parks and monuments--as well as a nice dollop of historiography and a careful consideration of similar movements abroad. Admirable, perceptive, and refreshingly well balanced--a daunting task superbly accomplished. (One hundred and forty-five illustrations--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Within the last ten years, many American historians have discovered the importance of collective "memory" in shaping their nation. In some respects following the lead of influential historians from other nations, they now try to understand the forces that shaped the ways in which Americans remember and use their past and what significant events altered their consciousness of history. Long before recent scholars began decrying the dominance of obscure monographs and calling for greater convergence of ideas in historical studies, Kammen had demonstrated that synthesis could be accomplished without sacrificing richness of detail and divergent interpretations. Moreover, he showed that historians could communicate with one another and a wider audience at the same time. This book, part of Kammen's multivolume rethinking of American history, presents his view of the growing dependence on and debate over collective memory as a historical force during four periods since 1870. With great skill he distinguishes the ways Americans adapted their views of the past to fit the needs of their present circumstances. He weaves a command of formal cultural history with a thorough understanding of popular culture into an astonishingly wonderful book that enlightens not only the history of the past century and a quarter but also the present.
- Charles K. Piehl, Mankato State Univ., Minn.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0394577698
• ISBN 13: 9780394577692
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 864