The Great War: Aftermath and Commemoration

by Carolyn Holbrook (Editor), Keir Reeves (Editor)

The legacy of war is complex. From the late twentieth century as we moved closer to the centenary of the start of World War I, Australia was swept by an “Anzac revival” and a feverish sense of commemoration. In this book, leading historians reflect on the commemorative splurge, which involved large amounts of public spending, and also re-examine what happened in the immediate aftermath of the war itself. At the end of 1918, Australia faced the enormous challenge of repatriating hundreds of thousands of soldiers and settling them back into society. Were returning soldiers as traumatised as we think? What did the war mean for Indigenous veterans and for relations between Catholics and Protestants? Did war unify or divide us? The country also faced major questions about its role in the world order that emerged after Versailles. How has the way we commemorate the war skewed our view of what really happened? The Great War reflects on the aftermath of World War I and the commemoration of its centenary. Provocative and engaging essays from a diverse group of leading historians discuss the profound ways in which World War I not only affected our political system and informed decades of national security policy but shaped—and continues to shape—our sense of who we are, for better or worse. This book reminds us that we live with the legacies of war still, in ways we may not see.

304 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2020

About the author

Carolyn Holbrook is a writer, educator, and longtime advocate for the healing power of the arts. She is the author of an essay collection, Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify (University of MN Press, 2020), a chapbook, Earth Angels (Spout Press 2020), and is co-author with Arleta Little of MN civil rights icon, Dr. Josie R. Johnson’s memoir, Hope In the Struggle (University of MN Press 2019). Her personal essays have been published widely, most recently in A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota (MN Historical Society Press 2016) and Blues Vision: African American Writing from Minnesota (MN Historical Society Press 2015). She is the recipient of three Minnesota State Arts Board grants (2015, 2018, 2020) and a MRAC Next Step grant (2019). In 2016, she was awarded a 50 over 50 award from AARP/Pollen Midwest.

Holbrook was the first person of color to win the Minnesota Book Awards Kay Sexton Award (2010). She is founder and artistic/executive director of More Than a Single Story for which she won a MN Women’s Press Changemaker award in 2015, and was founder and director of SASE: The Write Place (1993-2006). She teaches creative writing at the Loft Literary Center and other community venues, and at Hamline University, where she won the Exemplary Teacher award in 2014.

Reviews

[Bec]

Was doing wellbeing challenges in May, one of them being - "start reading a book in a different genre than you usually read". Over one month, I slowly got through 2 chapters - I tried but I fear this was a little too out my comfort zone

perfect if you like academic literature / history / world war 1 stories though!