ABSTRACT
In Pickett’s Charge in History and Memory, Carol Reardon demonstrates how the “fog of war,” soldiers’ recollections, and newspaper accounts shaped a historical memory that glorified Pickett and his men at the expense of the other participants, both Southern and Northern, and suggested that the event was a major turning point in the Civil War. Reardon’s book demonstrates how the memory of the events, which differs from the history of the events, was used by Northerners and Southerners to promote sectional reconciliation. Conversely, the memory of the Vietnam War has been tied to assigning blame because the war has traditionally been viewed as a mistake and a national tragedy. The memory of, and the historical writing on, the conflict in Vietnam have both occurred within the context of the tumultuous 1960s. Only recently has a type of post-Vietnam generation memory and history begun to emerge.
