War, Nation, Memory

International Perspectives on World War II in School History Textbooks

Keith A. Crawford, Stuart J. Foster, O. L. Davis

• Publisher: Information Age Publishing
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN:
  9781593118518
  9781593118525
• eBook ISBN:
  9781607526599
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Curricula

The Second World War stands as the most devastating and destructive global conflict in human history. More than 60 nations representing 1.7 billion people or three quarters of the world's population were consumed by its horror. Not surprisingly, therefore, World War II stands as a landmark episode in history education throughout the world and its prominent place in school history textbooks is almost guaranteed. As this book demonstrates, however, the stories that nations choose to tell their young about World War II do not represent a universally accepted "truth" about events during the war. Rather, wartime narratives contained in school textbooks typically are selected to instil in the young a sense of national pride, common identify, and shared collective memory. To understand this process War, Nation, Memory describes and evaluates school history textbooks from many nations deeply affected by World War II including China, France, Germany, Japan, USA, and the United Kingdom. It critically examines the very different and complex perspectives offered in many nations and analyses the ways in which textbooks commonly serve as instruments of socialisation and, in some cases, propaganda. Above all, War, Nation, Memory demonstrates that far from containing "neutral" knowledge, history textbooks prove fascinating cultural artefacts consciously shaped and legitimated by powerful ideological, cultural, and sociopolitical forces dominant in the present.

Table of contents

• Cover
• War, Nation, Memory: International Perspectives on World War II in School History Textbooks
• War, Nation, Memory: International Perspectives on World War II in School History Textbooks
• CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• FOREWORD
• 1: ON WAR, NATION,AND MEMORY
• 2: LEARNING ABOUT THEHOLOCAUSTA Comparative Analysisof English and German History Textbooks
• 3: WARTIME OR WAR CRIME?: The Destruction of Dresden in English History Textbooks
• 4: WARTIME RESISTANCE AND COLLABORATION IN FRENCH HISTORY TEXTBOOKS1
• 5: THE SINO-JAPANESE WAR AND THE POLITICS OF OFFICIAL REMEMBRANCE IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
• 6: RESPONSIBILITY AND VICTIMHOOD IN JAPANESE HISTORY TEXTBOOKS
• 7: IDEOLOGY AND NARRATIVE: Portrayals of World War II in U.S. History Textbook
• 8: TEXTBOOK PORTRAYALS OF BRITISH WOMEN DURING WORLD WAR II, 1942–2004
• 9: THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND COMMONWEALTH IN WORLD WAR II Selection and Omission in English History Textbooks1
• POSTSCRIPT: WORLD WAR II AND THELANDSCAPE OF MEMORY
• ABOUT THE AUTHORS
• Backcover