European University Institute Library

Memorial mania, public feeling in America, Erika Doss

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

no index present

non fiction

Memorial mania

758326843

Erika Doss

public feeling in America

Statue mania to memorial mania: scope of the subject -- Grief: temporary memorials and contemporary modes of mourning -- Fear: terrorism memorials and security narratives -- Gratitude: memorializing World War II and the "greatest generation" -- Shame: Duluth's lynching memorial and issues of national morality -- Anger: contesting American identity in contemporary memorial cultureIn the past few decades, thousands of new memorials to executed witches, victims of terrorism, and dead astronauts, along with those that pay tribute to civil rights, organ donors, and the end of Communism have dotted the American landscape. Equally ubiquitous, though until now less the subject of serious inquiry, are temporary memorials: spontaneous offerings of flowers and candles that materialize at sites of tragic and traumatic death. In Memorial Mania, Erika Doss argues that these memorials underscore our obsession with issues of memory and history, and the urgent desire to express<U+0127> and claim<U+0127> those issues in visibly public contexts --, Provided by Publisher