The Memory Phenomenon in Contemporary Historical Writing ― How the Interest in Memory Has Influenced Our Understanding of History

In this book, the author provides acomprehensive overview of the intense and sustained work on the relationshipbetween collective memory and history, retracing the royal roads pioneeringscholars have traveled in their research and writing on this topic: notably,the politics of commemoration (purposes and practices of public remembrance);the changing uses of memory worked by new technologies of communication (fromthe threshold of literacy to the digital age); the immobilizing effects oftrauma upon memory (with particular attention to the remembered legacy of theHolocaust). He follows with an analysis of the implications of this scholarshipfor our thinking about history itself, with attention to such issues as themnemonics of historical time, and the encounter between representation andexperience in historical understanding. His book provides insight into the wayinterest in the concept of memory - as opposed to long-standing alternatives,such as myth, tradition, and heritage - has opened new vistas for scholarshipnot only in cultural history but also in shared ventures in memory studies inrelated fields in the humanities and social sciences.

Patrick Hutton is Professor Emeritus of Historyin the Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Vermont, USA.