new york, new york. All my life this has been the city par excellence. My birthplace and the city that has always captivated me. Watching films set in the city, reading memoirs, novels, and historical accounts of the city, and certainly, visiting the city are among my very favorite pastimes.

I just started writing about NYC and some of my favorite portrayals of the city at my blog: The American Past. http://americanpast.blogspot.com/

new york blog entries

2 women in new york: Hotel McAlpin, NYC 1918

*****
War to End All War:

World War One moves further into the historical distance, yet its meanings and effects are still very much with us today. From the technology of that massive, global war, to the government uses of information dissemination, the First World War ushered in a new kind of conflict.

I am currently at work on a study that examines how World War I was experienced in an Illinois city just north of Chicago: Evanston. From the implementation of the draft to the establishment of the city's own "War Council," the city was consumed by the war, and its effects were felt on all levels of society and by all citizens. By focusing on how the residents both reacted to and were effected by the war, the book takes an in-depth, human-centered look at war's impact.

Anthology: War Isn't Hell, It's Entertainment: Essays on Visual Media and the Representation of Conflict. Edited by Rikke Schubart, Fabian Virchow, Debra White-Stanley and Tanja Thomas. Includes "The Authentic Illusion," an essay adapted from War Games.

Negotiating Cultures and Identities: Life History Issues, Methods, and Readings (2007). Edited by John L. Caughey. Includes "That Really Happened: Ethnography and the Hobby of 20th-Century War Reenacting" by Jenny Thompson.

Making Cocoa in the Field, World War II Reenactment

In the American Trench Sector, World War I reenactment

"I am so grateful to the reenactors I met and got to know over the years," Thompson says. "They were so generous with their time and in talking with me. So many of them really went out of their way to help me and to guide me through the hobby. They are truly a fascinating group of people."

The Author in her World War II Correspondent's Uniform --Photograph by Bryan Grigsby