Famous Battles and How They Shaped the Modern World: From Troy to Courtrai, 1200 BC-1320 AD

摘要

Never judge a book by its cover. In this case, if you do, you will miss the powerful arguments of these two books, published as a series, with original and provocative theses about war, memory and memorialisation. From the titles and the cover art, the books appear at first glance to be like those one passes by on the bargain shelves of large chain bookstores, the kind that scholars usually dismiss as insufficiently academic or rigorous. But the authors and editors are in this case not interested in the standard tales of how one battle or another turned the course of history. They are instead interested in how the myths that emerged from those battles have been adapted and interpreted over time to fit the needs of future generations. These two books are rooted in the theories of French historians Pierre Nora and Ernest Renan, arguing that battle myths have become essential staples of nationalist ideologies.