Social Memory (New Perspectives on the Past)

Social Memory (New Perspectives on the Past) by Fentress, James. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780631166191.

The operation of individual and group memory conditions perceptions of the past profoundly affects understanding of the present. This book considers the nature of social memory and its manifestations in myth, fairytale and the writing of history itself, with examples ranging from the Brothers Grimm and the Icelandic sagas to the reputation of Charlemagne, the perception of the Mafia and the uses of the past in sub-Saharan Africa.