In Revisioning History thirteen historians from around the world look at
the historical film on its own terms, not as it compares to written
history but as a unique way of recounting the past. How does film
construct a historical world? What are the rules, codes, and strategies
by which it brings the past to life? What does that historical
construction mean to us? In grappling with these questions, each
contributor looks at an example of New History cinema. Different from
Hollywood costume dramas or documentary films, these films are serious
efforts to come to grips with the past; they have often grown out of
nations engaged in an intense quest for historical connections, such as
India, Cuba, Japan, and Germany.The volume begins with an introduction
by Robert Rosenstone. Part I, "Contesting History, " comprises essays by
Geoff Eley (on the film Distant Voices, Still Lives), Nicholas B. Dirks
(The Home and the World), Thomas Kierstead and Deidre Lynch (Eijanaika),
and Pierre Sorlin (Night of the Shooting Stars). Contributing to Part
II, "Visioning History, " are Michael S. Roth (Hiroshima Mon Amour),
John Mraz (Memories of Underdevelopment), Min Soo Kang (The Moderns) and
Clayton R. Koppes (Radio Bikini). Part III, "Revisioning History"
contains essays by Denise J. Youngblood (Repentance), Rudy Koshar
(Hitler: A Film from Germany), Rosenstone (Walker), Sumiko Higashi
(Walker and Mississippi Burning), and Daniel Sipe (From the Pole to the
Equator).