Gettysburg: Memory, Market and an American Shrine.(Book Review)

Jim Weeks Princeton University Press 288pp 19.95 [pounds sterling] ISBN:0 691 10271 6

GETTYSBURG IN 1863 was not just another Civil War battle. More costly and equally dramatic battles were fought elsewhere; there were other, perhaps more momentous 'turning points' in that conflict. Yet, much like the Somme in the British memory of the First World War, Gettysburg has always been a metaphor for the Civil War as a whole. Its mythical status exceeds its actual military importance. This transcendent significance can in part be traced to Lincoln's visit to dedicate a portion of the ...

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