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9780814755488 Add to Cart Academic Inspection Copy

Optimism at Armaggedon

Voices of American Participants in World War One
  • ISBN-13: 9780814755488
  • Publisher: NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
    Imprint: NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
  • Edited by Mark Meigs
  • Price: AUD $193.00
  • Stock: 0 in stock
  • Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
  • Local release date: 01/03/1997
  • Format: Hardback (229.00mm X 152.00mm) 384 pages Weight: 476g
  • Categories: First World War [HBWN]
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The experiences of American soldiers in World War I differed enormously from those of European combatants. With the U. S. emerging from its previous isolation, soldiers arrived in the European theater late, fought briefly, and soon found themselves among the victors. Exposed for the first time to a foreign culture and bombarded by the messages of America's first concerted propaganda campaign, doughboys and other American participants struggled to make sense of their role and participation in the war. Mark Meigs here juxtaposes more official views--as expressed in speeches and in The Stars and Stripes, army handbooks, and unit histories--with informal, widely disseminated sources, such as popular songs, jokes, and postwar fiction, together with the soldiers' own letters and journals. Optimism at Armageddon begins with an exploration of how Americans rationalized their involvement and goes on to examine the effects of veterans' experiences during the war, focusing on combat, cultural and sexual contact with their European hosts, and death and concludes with the doughboys' account of their return to American society.
Mark Meigs has taught history at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Delaware. Currently he is Associate Professor at the Universit Paris Nord and a member of the Conseil Scientifique of the Historial de la Grande Guerre, the museum of World War I in Peronne France.
"This is literary criticism at its most perceptive. Theory is subservient to a deeply engaged reading of works Professor Paris clearly loves. To read his analysis of Emma Bovary or Hedda Gabler is to gain an enriched insight into characters whom we thought we knew so well." -Phyllis Grosskurth, author of "Byron, The Flawed Angel"
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