Memorials of the Great War in Britain: The Symbolism and Politics of Remembrance

Description

Taking as its focus memorials of the First World War in Britain, this book brings a fresh approach to the study of public symbols by exploring how different motives for commemorating the dead were reconciled through the processes of local politics to create a widely valued form of collective expression. It examines how the memorials were produced, what was said about them, how support for them was mobilized and behaviour around them regulated. These memorials were the sites of contested, multiple and ambiguous meanings, yet out of them a united public observance was created. The author argues that this was possible because the interpretation of them as symbols was part of a creative process in which new meanings for traditional forms of memorial were established and circulated. The memorials not only symbolized emotional responses to the war, but also ambitions for the post-war era. Contemporaries adopted new ways of thinking about largely traditional forms of memorial to fit the uncertain social and political climate of the inter-war years. This book represents a significant contribution to the study of material culture and memory, as well as to the social and cultural history of modern warfare.

Alex King is a Research Associate at Cambridge University Library, UK.

'Alex King ...has written a book which transforms our understanding of the circumstances in which the memorials were erected during the war itself... He has also shrewdly detected in newspaper reports, and in the copious proceedings of numerous memorial committees, evidence of priorities and expectations, and, of course, the occasional significant quarrel. He is aware that there was a political dimension to this commemorative activity, and also an urgent need to mitigate, or at least to control, the grief of a community, but he justly concludes that something else was also involved.' Times Literary Supplement 'King has written the first thoroughly professional book on British war memorials, a work exemplary both as empirical history and for its reading of the literature on symbolism and ritual.' The Journal of Modern History 'King is very good on the new, intense feeling of moral obligation which memorials of the Great War imposed... H(l/c)ere for the first time is an account which begins to encompass not only the myriad forms that they took but also the roles that they played in the life of particular communities. Clearly written and supported by a mass of wonderfully suggestive evidence, Alex King's book represents a significant contribution both to the study of material culture and to the social history of the inter-war period.' Journal of Design History Through a close examination ... King usefully extends knowledge of how different localities throughout Britain sought to give permanent expression to the nation's gratitude to those who had sacrificed their lives in its defense.' Choice 'A book that anyone interested in war memorials and the act of 'remembrance' should read.' The Western Front Association Bulletin 'There is a lot in this book for those interested in the social history of the 1914-18 War.' Church Times 'King's study makes a fine addition to the excellent series on "The Legacy of the Great War" published by Berg Press. Once again, the editors have produced a marvelously researched and carefully argued work that, like many of the other splendid contributions to that series, adds a wealth of detail to our knowledge of the cultural and social history of the Great War.' Albion 'The chapters on the aesthetics of war memorials and on the businesses that constructed them are valuable.' Journal of Strategic Studies 'Arefreshingly original and interesting inquiry into the making and meaning of British memorials of World War I'. Ethnic and Racial Studies 'Primaril an excellent empirical study of one, greatly under-researched area of local politics and the exercise of elite power, this book has a place on reading lists for courses on the impact of the Great War, the histories of architecture, design or planning and the emerging courses dealing with aspects of history and memory.' History