How does a nation remember a war? This course looks at how the Second World War has been remembered, interpreted and represented in British public life, with London as a central site of memory. Students look beyond what happened to how events became stories, told through museums, memorials, archives and popular culture. Themes include civilian life during the Blitz, evacuation and childhood, women on the Home Front, propaganda and morale, leadership and national myth-making, secrecy and intelligence, and Britain’s view of itself as a wartime nation. Site visits include the Imperial War Museum, the Churchill War Rooms, the National Army Museum and London Museum Docklands. Through object analysis, oral history and their own research, students judge how institutions shape historical understanding and compare British and American ways of remembering the war.
Department: History
Location: London
Semester: Spring
Credits: 3