{"product_id":"9781621908449-on-a-great-battlefield","title":"On a Great Battlefield","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Making, Management, and Memory of Gettysburg National Military Park, 1933–2023\u003cbr\u003eProvides a critical perspective to Gettysburg historiography by offering an in-depth exploration of the national military park and how the Gettysburg battlefield has evolved since the National Park Service acquired the site in August 1933.\u003cbr\u003eOf the more than seventy sites associated with the Civil War era that the National Park\u003cbr\u003e Service manages, none hold more national appeal and recognition than Gettysburg National\u003cbr\u003e Military Park. Welcoming more than one million visitors annually from across the\u003cbr\u003e nation and around the world, the National Park Service at Gettysburg holds the enormous\u003cbr\u003e responsibility of preserving the war’s “hallowed ground” and educating the public, not\u003cbr\u003e only on the battle, but also about the Civil War as the nation’s defining moment. Although\u003cbr\u003e historians and enthusiasts continually add to the shelves of Gettysburg scholarship, they\u003cbr\u003e have paid only minimal attention to the battlefield itself and the process of preserving,\u003cbr\u003e interpreting, and remembering the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. In \u003ci\u003eOn a Great Battlefield\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003cbr\u003e Jennifer M. Murray provides a critical perspective to Gettysburg historiography by\u003cbr\u003e offering an in-depth exploration of the national military park and how the Gettysburg\u003cbr\u003e battlefield has evolved since the National Park Service acquired the site in August 1933.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e As Murray reveals, the history of the Gettysburg battlefield underscores the complexity\u003cbr\u003e of preserving and interpreting a historic landscape. After a short overview of early\u003cbr\u003e efforts to preserve the battlefield by the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association\u003cbr\u003e (1864–1895) and the United States War Department (1895–1933), Murray chronicles the\u003cbr\u003e administration of the National Park Service and the multitude of external factors—including\u003cbr\u003e the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II, the Civil War Centennial, and\u003cbr\u003e recent sesquicentennial celebrations—that influenced operations and molded Americans’\u003cbr\u003e understanding of the battle and its history. Haphazard landscape practices, promotion of\u003cbr\u003e tourism, encouragement of recreational pursuits, ill-defined policies of preserving cultural\u003cbr\u003e resources, and the inevitable turnover of administrators guided by very different\u003cbr\u003e preservation values regularly influenced the direction of the park and the presentation\u003cbr\u003e of the Civil War’s popular memory. By highlighting the complicated nexus between preservation,\u003cbr\u003e tourism, popular culture, interpretation, and memory, On a Great Battlefield\u003cbr\u003e provides a unique perspective on the Mecca of Civil War landscapes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Jennifer M. Murray, assistant professor of history at the University of Virginia’s College\u003cbr\u003e at Wise, is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Civil War Begins\u003c\/i\u003e. Her articles have appeared in \u003ci\u003eCivil War\u003cbr\u003e History, Civil War Times\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eCivil War Times Illustrated.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57878516433270,"sku":"9781621908449","price":24.87,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_37701386.jpg?v=1778857300","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781621908449-on-a-great-battlefield","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}