ABSTRACT
The song that begins this chapter, Bob Dylan’s 1964 “With God on Our Side,” contextualizes the Holocaust within American history as he places it alongside the Native American genocide, the Spanish American War, and the Cold War. The particular lyrics quoted above function not only to condemn German atrocities but also as a point of comparison for American involvement in the race for mutually assured destruction. The Holocaust, in Dylan’s song, serves as a reminder of the ckle nature of enmity and the dangers of using God as a reason for participation in war. Dylan is 23 when The Times they are A-Changin’ is released, and the song itself also functions to interrogate American education systems, which he would have recently experienced. It “questions blind Nationalism, American historical mytho logy taught in schools, and the invocation of God for political purposes” (Taylor and Israelson 54). The overriding message is one that seeks to compli cate simplistic historical interpretation.
