History, empathy and conflict : heroes, victims and victimisers / Philip Towle.
Towle, Philip, 1945- author.
2018
D16.9 .T69 2018
Available Online

Linked e-resources

Linked Resource Online Access
Concurrent users Unlimited
Authorized users Authorized users
Document Delivery Supplied Can lend chapters, not whole ebooks

Details

Title History, empathy and conflict : heroes, victims and victimisers / Philip Towle.
Author Towle, Philip, 1945- author.
ISBN 9783319779591 (electronic book)
3319779591 (electronic book)
9783319779584
Published Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Pivot, 2018.
Language English
Description 1 online resource.
Call Number D16.9 .T69 2018
Dewey Decimal Classification 901
Summary This book argues that popular culture has been transformed in a silent revolution from emphasising history's heroes to its victims. While city squares and stations were named in the nineteenth century after military victories, now the equivalent airports are named after the victims of violence. Where war reports used to focus on the leadership of the generals and the bravery of the troops, now they are mostly about casualties, refugees and destruction. History, Empathy and Conflict examines the diplomatic consequences of such a revolution in sensibility. Many governments have responded by apologising for their country's historic actions. History teaching in schools has sometimes been revised to reflect the new emphasis and to build confidence between nations and respect for domestic minorities. Not least of the reasons for these changes is the difficulty or impossibility of making restitution for past wrongs. But history can also be used by the media and governments to justify intervention to protect victims of civil wars only to come to be seen as victimisers themselves. The past is always difficult to interpret but is the basis of all our decisions and all institutions try to twist it to their own convenience. Sympathy with history's victims is a great moral advance but it can be used by dissatisfied nations to justify their revisionist policies and with the election of President Trump in 2016, all the Great Powers claim to be history's victims.
Bibliography, etc. Note Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description Online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed May 23, 2018).
Available in Other Form Print version: 9783319779591
Linked Resources Online Access
Record Appears in Online Resources > Ebooks
All Resources
1: Introduction
Part 1 Heroes to Victims
2: The Victimised
3: From Heroes to Victims
4: A Gratitude Free Zone
Part 2 Responses
5: "Memory Wars" and National Apologies
6: Historical Education
7: Restitution
Part 3 Force and Memory
8: From Heroes to Victimisers
9: Memory as Guidance
10: Hiding Victimisation
11: 2016: The Victory of Victimhood.

Browse Subjects

Show more subjects...

Statistics

from
to
Export