Micki McElya is Professor of History at the University of Connecticut. She is the author of Clinging to Mammy: The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America and of The Politics of Mourning: Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery, which won the John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize and the Sharon Harris Award and was a finalist for the Jefferson Davis Award and the Pulitzer Prize.
Perhaps it is cliché to observe that in the cities of the dead we
find meaning for the living. But, as McElya has so gracefully
shown, such a cliché is certainly fitting of Arlington.
*American Historical Review*
An insightful and affecting investigation of how Americans see
themselves, and how they memorialize their soldiers, that will be
of interest to historians and, particularly, veterans.
*Library Journal (starred review)*
McElya has crafted a wonderful history of Arlington National
Cemetery, detailing the political and emotional background to this
high profile burial ground. The evolution over the years of
policies that govern who gets buried at Arlington, regardless of
race or gender, is a complicated tale that deserves telling. The
construction in 1921 of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier serves as a
powerful symbol of the universality of military service in support
of democratic ideals. McElya's finely wrought prose brings this
story to light.
*Choice*
Highlighting issues of race, gender, sexuality, and nationhood,
McElya not only corrects the dominant story of military valor but
recuperates the lost landscape and lives of Arlington.
*Kirk Savage, University of Pittsburgh*
The Politics of Mourning is an elegantly written and fascinating
study of the history of Arlington National Cemetery. McElya delves
deeply into the complex story of Arlington’s evolution from
antebellum plantation to hallowed ground and explores how this
complicated past continues to shape its current status as ‘Our
Nation’s Most Sacred Shrine.’
*Suzanne E. Smith, George Mason University*
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