The Past Within Us: Media, Memory, History

by Tessa Morris-Suzuki

Despite predictions of the “death of the past” and the “end of history,” the past refuses to go away. In fact, the start of the twenty-first century has seen an upsurge of interest in popular representations of history on the large and small screen, and of impassioned political conflicts over rival understandings of the past. Historical responsibility and apology have become contentious topics of domestic politics and of international diplomatic relations, and memory a profitable commodity for sale to mass markets. Against this background, how do historians deal with the problems of the search for “historical truth”?

The Past Within Us approaches these issues by examining the problems of representing history in the popular media. Drawing on examples from East Asian and American as well as European history, it poses the What happens when accounts of history are transferred from one medium to another? How far does the medium shape the message? How can historians deploy contemporary media in ways which evoke and develop the historical imagination?

From the romances of Walter Scott to Steven Spielberg blockbusters, from online Irish nationalism to Japanese revisionist comic books, The Past Within Us explores some of the more dramatic modern popular representations and reflects on the key challenges and possibilities for the communication of history in a multimedia age.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

265 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 2005

About the author

Tessa Morris-Suzuki is Professor of Japanese History at Australian National University and the author or co-author of more than a dozen books, including most recently East Asia Beyond the History Wars, with Morris Low, Leonid Petrov and Timothy Y. Tsu, and Borderline Japan, and a recipient of the 2013 Fukuoka Prize.

Reviews

[Katrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Minsan, okay din magbasa ng mga books that will make you think like an intellectual.
Syempre okay yan and very applicable in dates and social gatherings.
This book is good for that. Not so highfalutin that will make your nose bleed, but it will tickle your mind to think kung ang history nga ba na alam natin ay ang history na talagang nangyari o history na gawa-gawa lamang ng historians base sa kanilang understanding and interpretation of events (welcome to the positivist VS interpretevist argument)
Oha. Though not as extensive and in-depth for a scholarly work, okay na 'to sa mga first-try.

[Khursten · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is one of the more important texts on modern historiography. Archives are now transformed as media is transformed and this book is a must have for historians who wish to explore new sources such as comics, photographs, and the internet as a historical source.

[Alberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buen libro para comenzar a leer acerca de las relaciones entre medios de comunicación digitales e historia. Su año de publicación, 2005, juega en su contra ya que la rapidez con la que avanza el sector deja a muchos de los ejemplos utilizados caducos o al menos desfasados. Aún así, una lectura recomendada.