The Collective Memory Reader: The Evolution of an Idea

In the last few decades, there are few concepts that have rivaled "collective memory" for attention in the humanities and social sciences. Indeed, use of the term has extended far beyond scholarship to the realm of politics and journalism, where it has appeared in speeches at the centers of power and on the front pages of the world's leading newspapers. Seen by scholars in numerous fields as a hallmark characteristic of our age, an idea crucial for understanding our present social, political, and cultural conditions, collective memory now guides inquiries into diverse, though connected, phenomena. Nevertheless, there remains a great deal of confusion about the meaning, origin, and implication of the term and the field of inquiry it underwrites.The Collective Memory Reader presents, organizes, and evaluates past work and contemporary contributions on collective memory. Combining seminal texts, hard-to-find classics, previously untranslated references, and contemporary landmarks, it will serve as a key reference in the field. In addition to a thorough introduction, which outlines a useful past for contemporary memory studies, The Collective Memory Reader includes five sections-Precursors and Classics; History, Memory, and Identity; Power, Politics, and Contestation; Media and Modes of Transmission; Memory, Justice, and the Contemporary Epoch-comprising ninety-one texts. A short editorial essay introduces each of the sections, while brief capsules frame each of the selected texts.An indispensable guide, The Collective Memory Reader is at once a definitive entry point into the field for students and an essential resource for scholars.

Table of Contents:
Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction, Jeffrey K. Olick, Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi, and Daniel Levy Part One: Precursors and Classics Introduction to Part One Edmund Burke, from Reflections on the Revolution in France. Alexis de Tocqueville, from Democracy in America. Friedrich Nietzsche, from On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life Ernst Renan, from What is a Nation? Sigmund Freud, from Totem and Taboo: Resemblances between the Psychic Lives of Savages and Neurotics and Moses and Monotheism Karl Marx, from The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte Karl Mannheim, from The Sociological Problem of Generations Walter Benjamin, from The Storyteller and Theses on the Philosophy of History Ernst Gombrich, from Aby Warburg: An Intellectual Biography Theodor Adorno, from Valéry Proust Museum and In Memory of Eichendorff Lev Vygotsky, from Mind in Society Frederic Bartlett, from Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology Carl Becker, from Everyman his own Historian George Herbert Mead, from The Nature of the Past Charles Horton Cooley, from Social Process Emile Durkheim, from The Elementary Forms of Religious Life Maurice Halbwachs, from The Collective Memory Marc Bloch, from Memoire Collective, Tradition et Coutume: A propos d'un Livre Recent [Collective Memory, Custom, and Tradition: About a Recent Book] Charles Blondel, from Revue Critique: M. Halbwachs Les Cadres Sociaux de la Mémoire [Critical Review of M. Halbwachs Les Cadres Sociaux de la Mémoire] Roger Bastide, from The African Religions of Brazil: Toward a Sociology of the Interpenetration of Civilizations. Lloyd Warner, from The Living and the Dead: A Study of the Symbolic Life of Americans E.E. Evans-Pritchard, from The Nuer: A Description of the Modes of Livelihood and Political Institutions of a Nilotic People Claude Levi-Strauss, from The Savage Mind Part Two: History, Memory and Identity Introduction to Part Two Hans-Georg Gadamer, from Truth and Method Edward Casey, from Remembering: A Phenomenological Study Peter Burke, from History as Social Memory Allan Megill, from History, Memory, Identity Alon Confino, from Collective Memory and Cultural History: Problems of Method Yosef Yerushalmi, from Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory Jan Assmann, from Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism and Collective Memory and Cultural Identity Peter Berger, from Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Approach Eviatar Zerubavel, from Social Memories: Steps towards a Sociology of the Past Jeffrey K. Olick, from Collective Memory: The Two Cultures Robert Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, Steven M. Tipton, from Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life Anthony Smith, from The Ethnic Origins of Nations Yael Zerubavel, from Recovered Roots: Collective Memory and the Making of Israeli National Tradition Barry Schwartz, from Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of American Memory Part Three: Power, Politics, and Contestation Introduction to Part Three Michel Foucault, from Film in Popular Memory: An Interview with Michel Foucault Popular Memory Group, from Popular Memory: Theory, Politics, Method Raphael Samuel, from Theatres of Memory John Bodnar, from Remaking America: Public Memory, Commemoration and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen, from The Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life Eric Hobsbawm, from Introduction: Inventing Traditions Terence Ranger, from The Invention of Tradition Revisited: The Case of Colonial Africa Orlando Patterson, from Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study Richard Sennett, from Disturbing Memories Michael Schudson, from The Past in the Present versus the Present in the Past Gladys Lang and Kurt Lang, from Recognition and Renown: The Survival of Artistic Reputation Lori Ducharme and Gary Alan Fine, from The Construction of Nonpersonhood and Demonization: Commemorating the 'Traitorous' Reputation of Benedict Arnold Wulf Kansteiner, from Finding Meaning in Memory: A Methodological Critique of Collective Memory Studies Ron Eyerman, from The Past in the Present: Culture and the Transmission of Memory Jeffrey Alexander, from Toward a Cultural Theory of Trauma Part Four: Media and Modes of Transmission Introduction to Part Four André Leroi-Gourhan, from Gesture and Speech Jack Goody, from Memory in Oral and Literate Traditions Merlin Donald, from Origins of the Modern Mind: Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition Aleida Assmann, from Canon and Archive Paul Connerton, from How Societies Remember Harald Welzer, Sabine Moller, Karoline Tschuggnall, Olaf Jensen, Torsten Koch, from Opa war kein Nazi: Nationalsozialismus und Holocaust im Familiengedächtnis [Grandpa Wasn't a Nazi: National Socialism in Family Memory] Marianne Hirsch, from The Generation of Postmemory John Thompson, from Tradition and Self in a Mediated World George Lipsitz, from Time Passages: Collective Memory and American Popular Culture Barbie Zelizer, from Why Memory's Work on Journalism does not Reflect Journalism's Work on Memory Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz, from Media Events: The Live Broadcasting of History Reinhardt Koselleck, from War Memorials: Identity Formations of the Survivors James Young, from At Memory's Edge: After-Images of the Holocaust in Contemporary Art Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi, From Commemorating a Difficult Past: Yitzhak Rabin's Memorials M. Christine Boyer, from The City of Collective Memory: Its Historical Imagery and Architectural Entertainments Danièle Hervieu-Léger, from Religion as a Chain of Memory Harald Weinrich, from Lethe: The Art and Critique of Forgetting Robin Wagner-Pacifici, from Memories in the Making: The Shapes of Things that Went Part Five: Memory, Justice, and the Contemporary Epoch Introduction to Part Five Edward Shils, from Tradition Ian Hacking, from Memory Sciences, Memory Politics Patrick Hutton, from History as Art of Memory Anthony Giddens, from Living in a Post-Traditional Society David Gross, from Lost Time: On Remembering and Forgetting in Late Modern Culture Jay Winter, from Remembering War: The Great War between Memory and History in the Twentieth Century Andreas Huyssen, from Present Pasts: Media, Politics, Amnesia Pierre Nora, from Reasons for the Current Upsurge in Memory Charles Maier, from A Surfeit of Memory? Reflections on History, Melancholy and Denial Fred Davis, from Yearning for Yesterday: A Sociology of Nostalgia Svetlana Boym, from Nostalgia and Its Discontents Michel-Rolph Trouillot, from Abortive Rituals: Historical Apologies in the Global Era Daniel Levy and Natan Sznaider, from Memory Unbound: The Holocaust and the Formation of Cosmopolitan Memory Mark Osiel, from Mass Atrocity, Collective Memory, and the Law Avishai Margalit, from The Ethics of Memory Marc Augé, from Oblivion Paul Ricoeur, from Memory-Forgetting-History Credits Index

About the Author :
Jeffrey K. Olick is Professor of Sociology and History at the University of Virginia. Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi is Associate Professor of Sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Daniel Levy is Associate Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook.

Review :
"This collection is impressive on so many levels that it is difficult to avoid the pat assessment that this is a 'must-have book' for all scholars and students, novice or veteran, interested in the encompassing subject matter." --Cynthia Comacchio, Wilfrid Laurier University