Allies in Memory

Sam Edwards holds a Ph.D. in History from Lancaster University. His current research engages with transatlantic relations, commemoration and memory, and the cultural history of twentieth-century conflict. He has previously published essays discussing various aspects of twentieth-century war commemoration, and he is co-editor of a volume exploring the place of D-Day in international remembrance, D-Day in History and Memory: The Normandy Landings in International Remembrance and Commemoration (2014). Edwards is keenly involved in various forms of community engagement, including public lecturing and schools' outreach activities, and he is frequently contacted by media outlets for informed opinion on topics connected to his research interests. In 2013, he delivered a guest talk for BBC Radio 4 on the subject of the centennial of the First World War. Prior to becoming a Lecturer in American History at Manchester Metropolitan University, Edwards was Fulbright Distinguished Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh and he remains a Fulbright alumnus. To date, his research has been funded by grants and awards from the Economic and Social Research Council, the British Association of American Studies, the United States Army Military History Institute, and the US-UK Fulbright Commission.

• Introduction; Part I. Remembrance and Reconstruction, c.1917–69: 1. Old World and New World: interwar transatlantic commemoration, c.1917–41; 2. 'Here we are together': air war and the anglicisation of American memory, c.1941–63; 3. 'These memories shall not be forgotten': D-Day and transatlantic memory, c.1944–69; Part II. Americanisation and Commercialisation, c.1964–2001: 4. 'It looks so different now': veterans' memory, c.1964–84; 5. 'The last good war': Vietnam, victory culture and the Americanisation of memory, c.1964–84; 6. 'One last look': the commercialisation of memory, c.1984–2001; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

'In this book Sam Edwards shows that he is a historian capable of investigating a complex history in a multifaceted way navigating his way through the tricky and occasionally overlapping narratives developed by each culture. He shows the way the memory of the war has grown and adapted, the inherently political biases of all forms of commemoration and the fact that messages are altered, created or reinforced to suit different cultures at different times. All this is done in a text that is engaging and readable. This is a major contribution to our understandings of war memory.' Mark Connolly, University of Kent