Showing results for "American War" in Arts & Entertainment

April 14, 1865. A famous actor pulls a trigger in the presidential balcony, leaps to the stage, and escapes, as the president lies fatally wounded. In the panic that follows, forty-six terrified people scatter in and around Ford's Theater as soldiers take up stations by the doors and the audience surges into the streets chanting, "Burn the place down!" This is the untold story of Lincoln's assassination: The forty-six stage hands, actors, and theater workers on hand for the bewildering events in the theater that night.

The final resting place of Ulysses S. Grant, the victorious general in the Civil War and the 18th president of the United States, is a colossal neoclassical tomb located in the most dynamic city in the country. It is larger than the final resting place of any other president or any other person in America. Since its creation, the popularity and condition of this monument have reflected not only Grant's legacy in the public mind but also the state of New York City and of the Union. In this deeply researched book, presidential historian Louis L. Picone recounts the full story.

A podcast guide to "The Vietnam War," the new documentary from Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. Washington Post Opinion columnist Alyssa Rosenberg breaks down each episode of the film with Burns and Novick themselves, getting the story behind the stories, and grappling with the lessons the United States learned -- and failed to learn -- in Vietnam and at home. Listen after you watch each episode of "The Vietnam War" for a new perspective on how the film was made and what it all means.

The media of the 1950s and 1960s promoted an idealized version of American life sustained by the nuclear family and bolstered by a booming consumer economy. The seemingly wholesome and simple lifestyles portrayed on television screens, however, belied a torrent of social, economic, and political struggles occurring at the time. By the late 1950s, television writers were increasingly constrained to distract audiences from confronting counternarratives to the Dream.

Even 150 years later, we are haunted by the Civil War---by its division, its bloodshed, and perhaps, above all, by its origins. Today, many believe that the war was fought over slavery. This answer satisfies our contemporary sense of justice, but as Gary W. Gallagher shows in this brilliant revisionist history, it is an anachronistic judgment.

New York City Blues: Postwar Portraits from Harlem to the Village and Beyond offers a deep dive into the blues venues and performers in the city from the 1940s through the 1990s. Interviews in this volume bring the listener behind the scenes of the daily and performing lives of working musicians, songwriters, and producers. The interviewers capture their voices—many sadly deceased—and reveal the changes in styles, the connections between performers, and the evolution of New York blues.

The American World War II film depicted a united America, a mythic America in which the average guy, the girl next door, the 4-F patriot, and the grieving mother were suddenly transformed into heroes and heroines, warriors and goddesses. The Star-Spangled Screen examines the historical accuracy—or lack thereof—of films about the Third Reich, the Resistance, and major military campaigns.

At the height of the ideological antagonism of the Cold War, the US State Department unleashed an unexpected tool in its battle against Communism: jazz. From 1956 through the late 1970s, America dispatched its finest jazz musicians to the far corners of the earth, from Iraq to India, from the Congo to the Soviet Union, in order to win the hearts and minds of the Third World and to counter perceptions of American racism.

While the role of the first lady has changed dramatically over the course of the nation's history, one thing remains constant: Americans have always been fascinated by the wives of the President. This collection features in-depth profiles of many of our beloved, inspiring, and occasionally enigmatic first ladies, including Martha Washington, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jacqueline Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama.

The American Civil War is perhaps the most significant event in American history. Its leaders, politics, battles, campaigns, and innovations have been studied throughout the world and continue to inspire awe in contemporary memory. This podcast will take the Civil War and trace the conflict from its origins to its campaigns and finally its aftermath and memory. Now grab your knapsack and rifle, fall in, and lets get marching!

The American Civil War is perhaps the most significant event in American history. Its leaders, politics, battles, campaigns, and innovations have been studied throughout the world and continue to inspire awe in contemporary memory. This podcast will take the Civil War and trace the conflict from its origins to its campaigns and finally its aftermath and memory. Now grab your knapsack and rifle, fall in, and lets get marching!

Ellen Newbold La Motte (1873–1961) was an American nurse, journalist and author. … and in 1915 volunteered as one of the first American war nurses to go to Europe and treat soldiers in World War I. In Belgium she served in a French field hospital, keeping a bitter diary detailing the horrors that she witnessed daily. “I am a professor of American studies and recently spent several years researching the life of Ellen N. La Motte, a long-forgotten nurse and public health crusader. In particular, I focused on her war writing. Soon after World War I began, she volunteered as a nurse in a ...

Famously referred to by US president Woodrow Wilson as "the war to end all wars", the First World War eclipsed all previous wars with its scale of destruction. With over 27 nations involved, the battle-field horrors and political outcomes of the first truly global military conflict had repercussions that are still felt today. NPR presents a vivid portrait of what most experts consider the first modern war, including profiles of America’s flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, unlikely savior of war-torn Belgium Herbert Hoover, and the last surviving doughboy Frank Buckles.

In the majority of cases, a pop or rock fan who is asked about a particular celebrity will answer in unambiguous terms.

Between 1817 and 1898, New York City evolved from a vital Atlantic port of trade to the center of American commerce and culture. Although this important urban transformation is well documented, the critical role of select Union soldiers turned New York engineers has, until now, remained largely unexplored.

For No Reason at All: The Changing Narrative of the First World War in American Film discusses a variety of Great War-themed films made from 1915 to the present, tracing the changing approaches to the conflict over time.

The American theater was not ignorant of the developments brought on by World War II, and actively addressed and debated timely, controversial topics for the duration of the war, including neutrality and isolationism, racism and genocide, and heroism and battle fatigue. McLaughlin and Parry's work fills a significant gap in the history of theater and popular culture, showing that American society was more divided and less idealistic than the received histories of the WWII home front and the entertainment industry recognize.

More than 60,000 books have been published on the Civil War. Most Americans, though, get their ideas about the war why it was fought, what was won, what was lost not from books but from movies, television, and other popular media. In an engaging and accessible survey, Gallagher guides listeners through the stories told in recent film and art, showing how they have both reflected and influenced the political, social, and racial currents of their times.