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The Last Word? Essays on Official History in the United States and British Commonwealth
Jeffrey Grey
ISBN: 0-313-31083-1
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-31083-6
192 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 11/30/2003
List Price: $86.95 (UK Sterling Price: £59.95)
Discount Price: $43.48 Sale Price for U.S. Customers Only. Save 50%. Ends 12/31/2009.
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Description: Official history is a misunderstood genre of historical writing, which attracts much negative comment from (non-official) historians but about which very little detail is actually known. This book examines the development of official history programs in Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand over the course of the twentieth century, looking at the ways in which they developed and the contributions each made to their respective national historiography. The second part of the work develops some themes from the first and takes the official histories of the Second World War as case studies.

Drawing on programs in Australia, Britain, and the United States, these essays examine the relationship between the histories, the historians, and their sponsoring institutions. They assess the impact of the histories on historical understanding of the Second World War. They also consider the impact that contemporary events during the Cold War had on the writing of the official history.
Table of Contents:
  • Acknowledgments
    Introduction by S. F. Wise
    National Traditions
    Canadian Official Military History: The End of and Era? by S. F. Wise
    Contested Histories: Official History and the South African Military in the Twentieth Century by Ian van der Waag
    'Something of Them Is Here Recorded': Official History in New Zealand by Ian McGibbon
    Continuity and Change in the Australian Official History Tradition by Peter Edwards
    Aspects of Official Histories of the Second World War
    Change Becomes Continuity: The Start of the U.S. Army's 'Green Book' Series by Edward J. Drea
    Gavin Long and History at the Australian War Memorial by Peter Stanley
    Exploiting Enemy Records: The Enemy Documentation Section and the Official Histories of the Second World War by Jeffrey Grey
    British Official Histories of the Air War by Christina J. M. Goulter
    Setting the Historical Agenda: Webster and Frankland and the Debate over the Strategic Bombing Offensive against Germany, 1939-1945 by Sebastian Cox
    Index
About the Author: JEFFREY GREY is Associate Professor in the School of History at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra, Australia. He is the author or editor of twenty books and numerous other publications in the fields of Australian, Commonwealth, and comparative military history.
LCC Class: 940
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