National Trauma and Collective Memory: Major Events in the American Century

Rating:
Summary: Inciteful book on major shocks to the nation in this Century
Review: I recommend this book for those intrested in relating their personal biography to major national events in our country. The book narrates the trauma of the events from the Great Depression of the 1930's thorugh the bombing of Pearl Harbor to such events as the Cuban Missle Crisis, the assassinations of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King, as well as the Watergate affair and the explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger. The book permits the reliving the these major events for the older generation and provides for the younter generation incites into the events that had such a dramatic impact upon their parents and grandparents. The concept of collective memory focuses both on generational effects and the process of commemoration. This concept allows the reader to understand how we as a people selectively remember and forget historical events.