Gettysburg : : Memory, Market, and an American Shrine / / Jim Weeks.

• VerfasserIn: Weeks, Jim,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2021]; ©2003
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (288 p.) :; 25 halftones.

The site of North America's greatest battle is a national icon, a byword for the Civil War, and an American cliché. Described as "the most American place in America," Gettysburg is defended against commercial desecration like no other historic site. Yet even as schoolchildren learn to revere the place where Lincoln delivered his most famous speech, Gettysburg's image generates millions of dollars every year from touring, souvenirs, reenactments, films, games, collecting, and the Internet. Examining Gettysburg's place in American culture, this book finds that the selling of Gettysburg is older than the shrine itself.Gettysburg entered the market not with recent interest in the Civil War nor even with twentieth-century tourism but immediately after the battle. Founded by a modern industrial society with the capacity to deliver uniform images to millions, Gettysburg, from the very beginning, reflected the nation's marketing trends as much as its patriotism. Gettysburg's pilgrims--be they veterans, families on vacation, or Civil War reenactors--have always been modern consumers escaping from the world of work and responsibility even as they commemorate. And it is precisely this commodification of sacred ground, this tension between commerce and commemoration, that animates Gettysburg's popularity.Gettysburg continues to be a current rather than a past event, a site that reveals more about ourselves as Americans than the battle it remembers. Gettysburg is, as it has been since its famous battle, both a cash cow and a revered symbol of our most deeply held values.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- PHASE ONE 1863-1884 A Genteel Summer Resort -- Chapter Two A Stream of Pilgrims -- PHASE TWO 1884-1920 A Mecca for Patriots -- Chapter Three A Memorial of the Whole Struggle -- Chapter Four A Place for Tourists and the Oppressed -- PHASE THREE 1920-1970 TV, Hot Bath, Cold War -- Chapter Five "These Are Touring Days": Mass Culture Transforms Gettysburg -- Chapter Six "Dad Got Us There in a Day": Automobiles and Family Touring -- PHASE FOUR 1970-2000 Heritage Gettysburg -- Chapter Seven A Future in the Past -- Chapter Eight "It's 1863 All Over Again": Heritage Tourists -- EPILOGUE: "The Most American Place in America" -- Notes -- Index