Gettysburg Contested: 150 Years of Preserving America's Cherished Landscape

by Brian C. Black, Richard B. Megraw (With)

Ever since the American Revolution, sacred sites representing key events in American history have been crucial to the nation's efforts to formalize its emerging story. And, following the Civil War, national history became a primary vehicle for patriotic and spiritual reconstruction, with sites such as historic battlefields serving important roles of inspiration and reflection during the nation's subsequent dark periods, from the Great Depression to the Vietnam War."Gettysburg Contested" traces these patterns back to the well-known field of battle of July 1-3, 1863, earning for it a new and lasting legacy as sacred ground that remains today, 150 years later. But the landscape history and record of preservation at Gettysburg is complicated, for Gettysburg has wrestled large issues, ranging from public vs. private development, to the role of local vs. state vs. federal governments, to the actual implementation of commemoration on the battlefield itself.While the story of the battle is ingrained in the fabric of American memory, Black's account considerably broadens the scope. Never before has the battlefield's story been told so completely, offering layer upon layer, story upon story, to great effect. Gettysburg becomes a springboard to understanding more fully the nation's need for sacred symbols and cherished landscapes of America's past. In "Gettysburg Contested," America s treasured battlefield becomes the great laboratory for how Americans preserve and honor the past. Like America itself, the story continues to unfold right before our eyes."

272 pages, Hardcover

First published June 15, 2013