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9780271083773 Academic Inspection Copy

Bells for America

The Cold War, Modernism, and the Netherlands Carillon in Arlington
  • ISBN-13: 9780271083773
  • Publisher: PENN STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
    Imprint: PENN STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
  • By Diederik Oostdijk
  • Price: AUD $163.00
  • Stock: 0 in stock
  • Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
  • Local release date: 14/11/2019
  • Format: Hardback 256 pages Weight: 0g
  • Categories: History of the Americas [HBJK]
Description
Table of
Contents
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The Netherlands Carillon stands out in the American memorial landscape. Situated between Arlington National Cemetery and the Marine Corps War Memorial, the modernist design of this 127-foot steel bell tower is strangely at odds with its surroundings, much in the same way that its prominent place is at odds with its absence in American memory. In this book, Diederik Oostdijk reveals the intriguing history of this major monument hidden in plain sight.

Given to the United States in the 1950s by the Dutch government as a gesture of gratitude for America’s role in the Dutch liberation during World War II and for the Marshall Plan aid that helped rebuild the Dutch economy, the carillon owes its conspicuous placement to the Cold War. Oostdijk traces the history of this monument, from its creation and the pageantry surrounding its presentation through its fall into disrepair and plans for its renewal. In so doing, he resolves the paradox of the carillon’s placement in Arlington and unearths a fascinating and compelling story of diplomacy and humanity.

Interweaving art history, campanology, landscape architecture, literature, musicology, and diplomatic history, Bells for America recounts how the Netherlands and the United States reconstructed their national identities and fostered an international relationship in the postwar era through public art.


List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Forestroke

1. Bells for America

2. The Smallest Bell (1952)

3. Casting the Carillon (1954)

4. A Modernist Tower on the Monumental Axis (1960)

5. A Cold War Relic (1995)

Conclusion: The Echo of Dissonance

Notes

Bibliography

Index



“A fascinating story of a monument hidden in plain sight. It is as a work of writing that the book stands out—a work of feeling. Bells for America is a meditation on human society, on its failures and blunders and hopes. Almost always inharmonious, such a society still dreams of making perfect sounds.”

—Alexander Nemerov, author of Soulmaker: The Times of Lewis Hine

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