I’m trying to study for my History course and I need some help to understand this question.
DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ACCURATE JUST NEEDS TO BE DONE
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Homework: World War II and the Good War Narrative
Directions: Complete the reading listed below. Then type out your answers to the questions. You should submit your answers to Canvass and be prepared to discuss your answers to these questions in class on the day they are due.
Reading:
- Boyer, CH4, “Whose History is it Anyway? Memory, Politics, and Historical Scholarship” 116-139
- Documents ~ UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights (1948)
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/unrights.asp (Links to an external site.)
Questions:
- What is the Good War Narrative? Define it. Who created it? Where did it come from?
~ Why is it that the story of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki fit only uneasily into this larger narrative? - What individuals and groups – at the time and afterwards – had a vested interest in presenting the atomic bombing of Japan in a good light and why?
- If the United States’ decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan to bring a swift end to WWII complicates the Good War Narrative, then what other events – what other decisions did the United States make in the way that it fought World War II that also might serve to complicate the Good War Narrative? Draw up a list.
- Can you think of other recent examples where historians have gotten themselves in controversy over their interpretations of the past – or can you think of other examples where the nation at large has conducted a vigorous and rancorous debate over the past and the meaning of the past?
