Looking at succeeding generations of tourists and pilgrims to the site--the genteel, the veterans, the masses, and finally the reenactors--Weeks gives us a lively, engaging, argumentative, and very well-written analysis of the commercial uses made of Gettysburg since before the bones were buried until the present day. -- Michael Fellman, author of "The Making of Robert E. Lee" and "Citizen Sherman"
Jim Weeks was a scholar-in-residence at the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and taught American history at The Pennsylvania State University.
"A book of rare intelligence and eloquence."--Library Journal "Thoughtfully written, well illustrated with contemporary imagery, and meticulously documented, this volume makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the utility of the past."--Choice "The story told here is a multifaceted one. Most obviously it offers a fresh perspective on the contested memory of the Civil War. It is no less important as a window on the social history of leisure and tourism."--Adam Smith, History Today "Weeks makes a convincing case that Gettysburg owes its special status to the marketplace. Nationalists might not like to hear it, but the shrine that prompts so much flag waving and solemn devotion is also a major moneymaker."--Damon W. Root, Reason "As both hallowed shrine and theme park, Gettysburg paradoxically offers Americans a sacred haven from our obsessive commercialism and an exciting marketplace experience. How local promoters began this process almost as soon as the shooting stopped, and how even today's park purists maintain this subtle, clever masking, make Weeks' Gettysburg an absorbing venture in cultural history."--Blue & Gray Magazine "[This] work not only fills a long-unaddressed gap in Gettysburg's vast historiography but also provides a noteworthy contribution to the larger debate over battlefield preservation and interpretation."--Joseph Pierro, Civil War History
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