A review by bucketoffish
Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness by Elizabeth D. Samet

3.0

This is a pretty interesting look at how American views on war have changed over time as a result of media and selective remembrance, and how such changes have affected future policy. The book focuses mainly on WWII, with some side notes on the Civil War and Vietnam. There's a broad coverage of movies, books, and political documents throughout the ages showing what mattered before the war, during the war, and afterwards. The main thread shows how WWII became a mythologized battle between good and evil in the American narrative, when this viewpoint was essentially absent both before and immediately after the war.

I'm reminded of the saying that history is written by the victors. I once saw this comparison of worldwide opinion polls about WWII from immediately after the war vs. the modern day. Right after the war, there was a very strong international consensus that the Soviet Union played the greatest part in defeating Germany. In the modern day, there's equally strong consensus that the United States played the greatest part. How much of a nation's narrative is really just made up after the fact and sold by media? Maybe we'll have a completely different view on things 300 years from now.