Source Evaluation #1
Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History
Source Evaluation
“Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History” is a book by the American historian Jay Winter. It was written in 1995, 77 years after the end of the First World War.
The book’s objective is to show us and analyse the “collective remembrance” of the Great War in the time period after the actual conflict, when people tried to reinstate the world after the global demolition following the conflict. The book’s is of crucial importance for the attempt at understanding how European history developed after the conflagration of the First World War.
The value of this source is that it gives us hindsight into how the post-war situation developed over the course of history, while distancing ourselves from the actual events so we can develop a concise and dissociated perspective on how the events escalated afterwards. The book offers us both perspectives at the time – traditionalistic and modernistic – on how people interpreted the conflict and dealt with the aftermath. It also gives us insight into the artistic aspect of the post-war situation and how it gradually started to change from overly patriotic to harshly realistic.
In terms of age gap, an example of the source’s limitation is the hindsight bias, which comes with the fact that we know how the events have unfolded. This unintentional bias can creep up in the writings and incline predictability of the events, which back in the time period was impossible. In this book there is also not many visual information about the references art works and movie scenarios, as well as the author assumes that the reader would be familiar with all the war poets and artists and there is a lack of background on the topics discussed.
Source Evaluation
“Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History” is a book by the American historian Jay Winter. It was written in 1995, 77 years after the end of the First World War.
The book’s objective is to show us and analyse the “collective remembrance” of the Great War in the time period after the actual conflict, when people tried to reinstate the world after the global demolition following the conflict. The book’s is of crucial importance for the attempt at understanding how European history developed after the conflagration of the First World War.
The value of this source is that it gives us hindsight into how the post-war situation developed over the course of history, while distancing ourselves from the actual events so we can develop a concise and dissociated perspective on how the events escalated afterwards. The book offers us both perspectives at the time – traditionalistic and modernistic – on how people interpreted the conflict and dealt with the aftermath. It also gives us insight into the artistic aspect of the post-war situation and how it gradually started to change from overly patriotic to harshly realistic.
In terms of age gap, an example of the source’s limitation is the hindsight bias, which comes with the fact that we know how the events have unfolded. This unintentional bias can creep up in the writings and incline predictability of the events, which back in the time period was impossible. In this book there is also not many visual information about the references art works and movie scenarios, as well as the author assumes that the reader would be familiar with all the war poets and artists and there is a lack of background on the topics discussed.
Source Evaluation #2
Bourke, Joanna. "Shell Shock during World War One." BBC History. BBC, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/shellshock_01.shtml
This source is an article on the BBC website, a secondary source from which we got some of our information and research which guided our project. This article is on ‘Shell shock during the war’ and gives information about battlefield breaking points, medical symptoms, defining trauma, possible cures of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), how the army dealt with the trauma, how the trauma was dealt with at back home and statistics on the number of soldier’s mental state affected. This source has many references to poems (by Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen) which teach us about how the attitude of the soldier’s towards the war changed and developed throughout the years of the war, which is of great relevance to our research question.
The article was last updated on the third of October in 2011, by Professor Joanna Bourke. Joanna Bourke is a Professor at Birkbeck College in London. She is a historian and has written a number of books including ‘The Second World War: A People’s history’ and is also the author of ‘An Intimate History of Killing’.
This source is a modern source which gives us a lot of insight on a War which took place ninety-seven years prior to the published date of the article. The layout of the web page has an aesthetic suitable for educative purposes. The article is written in formal language, yet the language is comprehendible by students and research like my group. The webpage has a professional background with basic formal colours like blue, black and white. The colour scheme indicates that it is not for very young students, but is detailed enough for quality and accurate research to be conducted. Moreover this source is reliable because at the bottom of their article they list their sources which consist of very reliable references such as ‘Cambridge University Press’ and ‘Amsterdam University Press’.
A limitation of the source is that the research cannot be generalized to all the soldiers who fought in World War 1, as the information is based on the experiences of the British army. However since the characters in our play (the soldiers) are British, this limitation does not affect our research.
Therefore this source is a reliable source, to a great extent, which we have used to secondary research from to aid our product (our production od the drama piece) of the World War One Interdisciplinary Unit.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/shellshock_01.shtml
This source is an article on the BBC website, a secondary source from which we got some of our information and research which guided our project. This article is on ‘Shell shock during the war’ and gives information about battlefield breaking points, medical symptoms, defining trauma, possible cures of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), how the army dealt with the trauma, how the trauma was dealt with at back home and statistics on the number of soldier’s mental state affected. This source has many references to poems (by Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen) which teach us about how the attitude of the soldier’s towards the war changed and developed throughout the years of the war, which is of great relevance to our research question.
The article was last updated on the third of October in 2011, by Professor Joanna Bourke. Joanna Bourke is a Professor at Birkbeck College in London. She is a historian and has written a number of books including ‘The Second World War: A People’s history’ and is also the author of ‘An Intimate History of Killing’.
This source is a modern source which gives us a lot of insight on a War which took place ninety-seven years prior to the published date of the article. The layout of the web page has an aesthetic suitable for educative purposes. The article is written in formal language, yet the language is comprehendible by students and research like my group. The webpage has a professional background with basic formal colours like blue, black and white. The colour scheme indicates that it is not for very young students, but is detailed enough for quality and accurate research to be conducted. Moreover this source is reliable because at the bottom of their article they list their sources which consist of very reliable references such as ‘Cambridge University Press’ and ‘Amsterdam University Press’.
A limitation of the source is that the research cannot be generalized to all the soldiers who fought in World War 1, as the information is based on the experiences of the British army. However since the characters in our play (the soldiers) are British, this limitation does not affect our research.
Therefore this source is a reliable source, to a great extent, which we have used to secondary research from to aid our product (our production od the drama piece) of the World War One Interdisciplinary Unit.
Source Evaluation #3
Sassoon, Siegfried. "Glory of Women." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/57368
“Survivors” is a poem written by Siegfried Sassoon in October 1917. Sassoon was one of the most vital leading poets and writers of the First World War, as well as a soldier in action.
The purpose of this source is to show Sassoon’s attitude towards the people, who disparaged the solders’ mental state. He displays his anger towards the members of society who think that the soldiers will easily recover from their experiences in the battlefield. He calls them off on their naivety and absolute obliviousness about how terrible the soldiers are affected by the horrors of war. He wants to disclose the nightmares and struggles of the people who fought on the front and diminish the beliefs that they are unaffected.
This poem is a valuable source, because the author participated in the war and even was injured, so he portrays his feelings and beliefs based on actual experiences. This is vital for understanding the general mood after the end of the war in perspective of the soldiers, rather than from the perception of society as a whole.
Even though Siegfried Sassoon portrays exceptionally well the anger and exasperation that most of the soldiers felt, it doesn’t really address them. Seeing as it is a poetic source, it doesn’t really specify what mental illnesses and conditions they were facing, which is one of the main topic we focused on, but rather focuses on the effects and influence they have on the soldiers as to better convey the author's emotions and strike the sensation of terror in the reader.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/57368
“Survivors” is a poem written by Siegfried Sassoon in October 1917. Sassoon was one of the most vital leading poets and writers of the First World War, as well as a soldier in action.
The purpose of this source is to show Sassoon’s attitude towards the people, who disparaged the solders’ mental state. He displays his anger towards the members of society who think that the soldiers will easily recover from their experiences in the battlefield. He calls them off on their naivety and absolute obliviousness about how terrible the soldiers are affected by the horrors of war. He wants to disclose the nightmares and struggles of the people who fought on the front and diminish the beliefs that they are unaffected.
This poem is a valuable source, because the author participated in the war and even was injured, so he portrays his feelings and beliefs based on actual experiences. This is vital for understanding the general mood after the end of the war in perspective of the soldiers, rather than from the perception of society as a whole.
Even though Siegfried Sassoon portrays exceptionally well the anger and exasperation that most of the soldiers felt, it doesn’t really address them. Seeing as it is a poetic source, it doesn’t really specify what mental illnesses and conditions they were facing, which is one of the main topic we focused on, but rather focuses on the effects and influence they have on the soldiers as to better convey the author's emotions and strike the sensation of terror in the reader.