War and the Humanities: A Small Revolution in Teaching History.

Abstract

of interest in what academics term '"popular" history. The success of television docudramas such as ''Roots," "Shogun," 'The Holocaust," and "The Blue and the Gray" attests to the popularity of historical themes with the public, as does the best-seller status attained by serious works such as Gordon Prange's posthumous volumes, At Dawn We Slept and Miracle at Midway. Indicative too of the public's continuing hunger for knowledge of the past has been a steady, even spec tacular growth of interest in military history. Books and articles designed to satisfy a vast readership pour forth from prestigious academic journals and popular maga zines alike. Battlefield tours are offered by book clubs and travel agencies; and enactment societies?voluntary organizations which exist to recreate in dramatic and