Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape

Carlton South, Victoria: The Miegunyah Press, 1998. First Edition . Hardcover. As New/As New. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. xvi 522 pages indexed, illustrated. The mylar protected jacket is immaculate as is the book, which appears never to have been opened. Overseas customers please note the book weighs over 1.5 kilos and will atrract additional postage - lots. "Memorials to Australian participation in wars abound in our landscape. From Melbourne's huge Shrine of Remembrance to the modest marble soldier, obelisk or memorial hall in suburb and country town, they mourn and honour Australians who have served and died for their country. Ken Inglis argues that the imagery, rituals and rhetoric generated around memorials constitute a civil religion, a cult of Anzac. Sacred Places traces three elements which converged to create the cult: the special place of war in the European mind when nationalism was at its zenith; the colonial condition; and the death of so many young men in distant battle, which impelled the bereaved to make substitutes for the graves of which history had deprived them.The 'war memorial movement' attracted conflict as well as commitment. Inglis looks at uneasy acceptance, even rejection, of the cult by socialists, pacifists, feminists and some Christians, and at its virtual exclusion of Aborigines...." (front flap)