{"product_id":"channeling-the-past-erik-christiansen-9780299289041","title":"Channeling the Past: Politicizing History in Postwar America","description":"After the turmoil of the Great Depression and World War II, Americans looked to the nation's more distant past for lessons to inform its uncertain future. By applying recent and emerging techniques in mass communication--including radio and television programs and commercial book clubs--American elites working in media, commerce, and government used history to confer authority on their respective messages.\u003cbr\u003e With insight and wit, Erik Christiansen uncovers in \u003ci\u003eChanneling the Past\u003c\/i\u003e the ways that powerful corporations rewrote history to strengthen the postwar corporate state, while progressives, communists, and other leftists vied to make their own versions of the past more popular. Christiansen looks closely at several notable initiatives--CBS's flashback \u003ci\u003eYou Are There\u003c\/i\u003e program; the Smithsonian Museum of American History, constructed in the late 1950s; the \u003ci\u003eCavalcade of America\u003c\/i\u003e program sponsored by the Du Pont Company; the History Book Club; and the Freedom Train, a museum on rails that traveled the country from 1947 to 1949 exhibiting historic documents and flags, including original copies of the U.S. Constitution and the Magna Carta.\u003cbr\u003e It is often said that history is written by the victors, but Christiansen offers a more nuanced perspective: history is constantly remade to suit the objectives of those with the resources to do it. He provides dramatic evidence of sophisticated calculations that influenced both public opinion and historical memory, and shows that Americans' relationships with the past changed as a result.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Erik Christiansen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0299289044\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780299289041\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Wisconsin Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/15\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 318\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.90lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/15\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/01\/2013 pg. 94\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/01\/2013","brand":"Erik Christiansen","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":49096668971263,"sku":"9780299289041","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/channeling-the-past-erik-christiansen-9780299289041","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}