Examining the Olympics

A quick reference guide to national flags

National symbols--flags, national anthems, monuments, currencies, capital structures, cultural icons, and public holidays, to name a few--are tricky cultural signposts, for they preserve not only the "victorious" definitions promoted by the nation but also the fossilized debates and controversies that have crystallized around these symbols over decades or, in some cases, centuries. Through close readings of national symbols, we can discover challenges to a perceived consensus--challenges that may have been silenced permanently, or for a time, but which may surface again when political or cultural circumstances are more favorable to their cause. This volume illuminates the rich insights national symbols offer into the historical process by which certain groups inscribe their interpretation of a nation's identity and collective memory at a given time period as well as how these narratives are gradually transformed as the power to "tell the national tale" shifts from one political group to another. The essays in this volume represent four continents and nine countries and include such topics as the interface of the religious and the secular in national narratives in Israel, the Balkans, and Northern Ireland; the question of the demise, survival, or resurrection of national symbols as the nation itself undergoes fundamental changes in Germany and Russia; fluid counter traditions in the American South; the multivalent figure of the Argentinean gaucho; the different uses various societal groups make of national monuments such as the Lincoln Memorial; the instability of certain national symbols, as exemplified by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Cairo; and, finally, perhaps the most monumental act of symbolic re-inscription, the re-founding of the capital of Sri Lanka in Sri Jayawardhanapura-Kotte. Collectively, the contributions in this volume demonstrate that, however "perennial" or "organic" their national symbols may appear to the citizens of any given nation at any given time, these symbols are subject, over time, to continual challenges, changes in signification, and, in extreme cases, loss of valuation or replacement.

National symbols, modern totems with ancient roots, remain entities for which men and women continue to march, debate, fight, and die. Modern political leaders still drape their campaigns in such symbols; modern revolutionaries still defile them. Identity Designs  explores the source of this long-standing power--the way national symbols are selected, the manner in which their meaning is conveyed, their potential effects, and the sustenance of their power. In particular, the book charts the role of design in the selection of symbolic images, thus demonstrating that symbols are chosen not just for what they convey, but how they convey their message. Karen Cerulo shows that the symbolic designs of a nation's identity are not simply the products of indigenous characteristics, as conventional wisdom might suggest. Rather, the banners and songs by which nations represent themselves are generated by broad social forces that transcend the peculiarities of any one nation. Cerulo's analysis acquaints readers with a set of social structural factors that delimit rules of symbolic expression. Further, the book suggests the benefits of adhering to these rules and explores the costs of violating them.

Combining keen analysis of current events with world history, Tim Marshall, author of the New York Times bestseller Prisoners of Geography, "one of the best books on geopolitics you could imagine," (The Evening Standard), explains flags and their symbols--how their power is used to unite and divide populations and intimidate enemies. From the renewed sense of nationalism in China, to troubled identities in Europe and the USA, to the terrifying rise of Islamic State, the world is a confusing place right now and we need to understand the symbols, old and new, that people are rallying round. For thousands of years flags have represented our hopes and dreams. We wave them. Burn them. March under their colors. And still, in the twenty-first century, we die for them. Flags fly at the UN, on Arab streets, from front porches in Texas. They represent the politics of high power as well as the politics of the mob. In nine chapters (covering the USA, UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America, international flags, and flags of terror), Tim Marshall's A Flag Worth Dying For examines the systems of symbols that represent nation states and non-state actors (including ISIS, Hezbollah, and Hamas), and how they figure in diplomatic relations and events today. Drawing on more than twenty-five years of global reporting experience to reveal the true meaning behind the symbols that unite us--and divide us--A Flag Worth Dying For is a winning combination of current affairs, politics, and world history.

The nation turns to it as an emotional, political, and patriotic symbol in good times and bad. Americans fly it everywhere we live and everywhere we go, from front porches in Florida to pickup trucks in Alaska. We display the red-white-and-blue American flag at festive events to celebrate and, at times of national tragedy, to grieve and show our resolve. We wrap ourselves in it in displays of patriotism, politics, nationalism, and jingoism.The thirteen-stripe, fifty-star flag is as familiar an American icon as any that has existed in the nation's history. It stirs something in the hearts of Americans like no other symbol. Yet the history of the flag, especially its origins, is cloaked in myth and misinformation. Flag: An American Biography rectifies that situation by presenting a lively, comprehensive, illuminating look at the history of the American flag from its beginnings to today.Journalist, historian, and author of the highly acclaimed Saving Monticello , Leepson uncovers scores of little-known, fascinating facts as he traces the evolution of the American flag from the Colonial period to its prominent role as a symbol of American resolve in today's war against terrorism. Flag sifts through the historical evidence to - among many other things - uncover the truth behind the Betsy Ross myth and to discover the true designer of the stars and stripes. The book also shines informing light on a string of colorful and influential Americans who shaped the history of the American flag.Leepson analyzes the influence and impact of the maker of the star-spangled banner, Mary Pickersgill; the author of the national anthem, Francis Scott Key; the coiner of the phrase "Old Glory," U.S. Navy Capt. Samuel Driver; the first officer killed in the Civil War, Union Col. Elmer Ellsworth, who died defending the flag; the first African-American Medal of Honor recipient, William Carney, who carried the flag and led troops through a viciously bloody Civil War battle; the creator of Flag Day, Wisconsin schoolteacher B. J. Cigrand; the father of the pledge of allegiance, Francis Bellamy; and Joe Rosenthal, the AP photographer who took the most reproduced image of the twentieth century, the marines raising the American flag at Iwo Jima. The American flag was seen as a symbol of a "divine plan" for the American ideal during the Civil War; as a symbol of the nation's historical heritage at the 1876 centennial celebrations; as a symbol conveying respect for the government and our social institutions - the so-called "cult of the flag" - in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. During the Vietnam War, the flag was a divisive emblem in a bitterly divided nation. In the wake of the eventsof September 11, 2001, the flag became an instant and widely used symbol of a nation united against terrorism." Flag , " as the novelist Nelson DeMille says in his preface, "is not a book with an agenda or a subjective point of view. It is an objective history of the American flag, well researched, well presented, easy to read and understand, and very informative and entertaining."