Jenny Thompson

“This strange, enthralling book on 20th-century war re-enactors becomes a wonderful case study on the power of history in our lives: history as a sort of Grail quest, history as fetish, history as reality itself. Thompson's reporting on these quarrelsome and oddly self-loathing people is exhaustive. Her analyses of the meaning of memory to them and, ultimately, to all of us, can have a meta-leveled precision that recalls the methodology of Proust.”

--Henry Allen, Author of What It Felt Like: Living in the American Century and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for criticism.

“Thompson's wholly admirable study of the reenactors of twentieth-century wars focuses on the World War II contingent. . . Thompson doesn't elide the faults of the reenactors, which include short tempers, quarrels over historical accuracy, and, occasionally, far-out politics, but she emphasizes that, in a sometimes roundabout way, they are studying history from the individual participant's point of view and seeking both wartime and contemporary camaraderie, a convincing illusion of being in the moment, and a way of identifying with the common soldier's experience. She doesn't give them a clean bill of health, so to speak, but does pronounce them eminently worthy of civilized consideration and only informed criticism, which she supplies in abundance. Approachable even by readers not interested in reenactment, this is a splendid example of a PC sympathizer fair-mindedly studying a largely non-PC phenomenon."

**Starred Review**

--Roland Green. BOOKLIST Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved.


"While most people have heard of Civil War reenactments, which draw huge crowds, those of 20th-century wars are lesser known. Thompson, who first became aware of reenactments in June 1993, found these latter-day stagings so fascinating that she decided to conduct her dissertation work on them and performed seven years of research, leading to this book. Through a combination of personal interviews, analysis of newspaper articles and photographs, and surveys, she takes an in-depth look at the world of 20th-century war reenactment. Thompson estimates that more than 5000 participants a year, mostly men, engage in reenactments of World Wars I and II and the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Although Thompson was accepted by most participants, a number of men resented her conducting observation studies of their private activities. She learned many things that surprised, saddened, and angered her, and she expects readers of this book to experience the same feelings. This rather unusual topic, coupled with creative story-telling, should stimulate readers to a wide variety of emotions. Recommended for large public libraries."

--Tim Delaney. Library Journal. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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