How Nations Remember

How Nations Remember asks how it is that entire nations can have such different views of the past. These are differences over specific events such as World War II, but they also take the form of different mental habits that shape national memory more generally. Drawing on psychology, anthropology, literary studies, and other disciplines, and on illustrations from Russia, America, China, and Georgia, the author examines notions such as "narrative templates," "narrative dialogism," and "privileged event narratives" that shape national memory, and concludes by outlining strategies for managing its destructive consequences.