The Crimean War and Cultural Memory: The War France Won and Forgot

"How does a war – a war that was won – disappear from a nation’s memory? Despite the strained efforts of Napoleon III to celebrate the victory, despite the wealth of images, plays, eye-witness accounts, and memorabilia, and despite the horrifying number of deaths, the Crimean War and its victims were forgotten. Godfrey’s vivid book exposes the powerful dynamics that wiped both the triumphs and the tragedies of the war from French collective memory."

Judith A. Miller, Associate Professor of History, Emory University

"The Crimean War and Cultural Memory offers an outstanding, well-researched account of how national cultures remember and especially forget complex historical events. Godfrey’s insightful discussion of a war that strangely disappeared from French national memory combines excellent empirical details with theoretical reflections that explain how national identities evolve through constant forgetting as well as very selective remembering."

Lloyd Kramer, Professor of History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

"Godfrey’s thoroughly researched and engagingly written book offers not just an in-depth analysis of representations of the Crimean War in a variety of media but also a profound reflection on the vicissitudes of cultural memory. By asking why the French have forgotten one of their greatest victories, Godfrey leads us to consider how certain historical events retain their hold over the popular imagination while others fade into oblivion."

Maurice Samuels, Betty Jane Anlyan Professor of French, Yale University, and author of The Spectacular Past

"An eminent scholar of French literature and culture, Godfrey examines France’s forgotten war in meticulous detail, showing us its half-erased traces in literature, visual culture, and monumental architecture. This haunting study is both timely and timeless."

Patrick M. Bray, Professor of French Literature, University College London