History, Memory and Public Life by Adam Sutcliffe
History, Memory and Public Life by Adam Sutcliffe, alongside with two other editors, Anna Katharina Maerker and Simon Sleight. Each chapter is written by another author expert in the topic, so it is a fascinating book because there are short chapters, of less than 30 pages on various issues. Naturally some chapters would be more interesting than others depending on each one’s preferences, but all are really worth reading.
Some of the topics are dealing with the difficult past, such as Holocaust, post-apartheid South Africa, or Northern Ireland Troubles. These are traumatic memories and their commemoration is complex and contested. There are both theoretical and applied aspects of historical memory studies and this is a must read for anyone who is reading history at undergraduate level.
That being said, I think due to the various topics this can be a book that everyone with an interest in history would enjoy too. I picked a few chapters, just to give a more clear view of what’s discussed in the book:
Sites of memory
Memory and the city
Hagiography and biography: narratives of ‘great men of science’
The politics of Holocaust memory
LGBT histories and the politics of identity
History, Memory and Public Life by Adam Sutcliffe
Details about the picture: I took the picture at university, in a lecture hall
My rating: 5/5 Stars
Would I recommend it: yes
Published by: Routledge
Year it was published: 2018
Format: Paperback
Genre(s): History
Pages: 326
About the author: Professor Adam Sutcliffe received his BA from Cambridge, his MA from Sussex, and his PhD (1998) from UCL. He has held fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania, the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, and the University of Leipzig, and served as Head of the History Department from 2012 to 2016. He is Professor of European History at KCL.
Dr Simon Sleight is Reader in Urban History, Historical Youth Cultures and Australian History, Co-founding Director of the Children’s History Society and Deputy Director of the Menzies Australia Institute at King’s. A native of Lincolnshire, Simon received his tertiary education at Warwick, University College London and Monash University in Melbourne, his doctoral thesis winning the Australian Historical Association’s Serle Award for best PhD in Australian history.
Dr Anna Maerker pursued undergraduate studies in physics and history of science at the University of Regensburg. She received an MPhil in History and Philosophy of Science from Cambridge University, and an MA/PhD in Science & Technology Studies from Cornell University. Before joining King’s Dr Maerker has held posts as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, and as a Senior Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University.
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This is definitely my kind of history reading, so long as the low number of pages devoted to a subject doesn’t result in something which reads too much like ‘sound bites’ of information, but as you gave it 5* and you are the history expert, I guess that isn’t the case! 🙂
Yvonne (@Fiction_Books) recently posted…Cabin Feverby Alex DahlReview
This is a scholarly work, nothing like ‘sound bites’ of information. I recommend it for non-historians because it is written in a lovely way, not dry at all, and the topics are so varied and interesting it makes for a wonderful read. 🙂
This does sound like a good introductory book. The idea of how individual memories play into history is a fascinating topic.
Kelly recently posted…Five Snowmen
Yes, it’s really fascinating and the topics are so different that makes the book interesting for many.