Troubled Pasts: News and the Collective Memory of Social Unrest

Extract

Troubled Pasts: News and the Collective Memory of Social Unrest. By Jill A. Edy. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2006. 240p. $71.50 cloth, $23.95 paper.

Jill A. Edy seeks to answer a difficult question: How do Americans construct a “collective” memory—as opposed to individual memories—of past events through the news media? Edy focuses her analysis on two case studies: the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles and the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. She chose these cases because they were complicated, significant, newsworthy events when they occurred and each case became a basis of comparison for contemporary events. In 1992, South Central Los Angeles, including Watts, erupted into riots again after the acquittal of police officers who had beaten motorist Rodney King, and in 1996, the Democratic Party once again held its national convention in Chicago.