Class Year
2015
Document Type
Blog Post
Publication Date
10-31-2014
Department 1
Civil War Institute
Abstract
Last year, I attended a Civil War Conference that highlighted what has become known as the “Dark Turn of the Civil War.” Basically, the turn is a shift in focus from the shiny-bugles-and-gleaming-bayonets interpretation of the Civil War to revealing the ugly underside of the Civil War, emphasizing themes of death, destruction, and loss. At the time, I remember thinking, this is a good thing, Civil War history does tend to be overly romanticized as the glorious American tragedy. One panel that bothered me, however, featured a discussion on “Dark Tourism.” I had never heard of Dark Tourism, and I remember being wary of whatever was about to happen. One man on the panel had led ghost tours in Gettysburg; another had worked for a museum exhibit of a Viking village, working with perfumers to recreate the authentic smells of a Viking latrine. [excerpt]
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Recommended Citation
Johnson, S. Marianne, "Seduced by the “Dark Turn”" (2014). The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History. 71.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/compiler/71
Comments
This blog post originally appeared in The Gettysburg Compiler and was created by students at Gettysburg College.