Sophocles' play Antigone is a starting point for understanding the perpetual problems of human societies, families, and individuals who are caught up in the terrible aftermath of mass violence. What is one to do after the killing has stopped? What can be done to prevent a round of new violence? The tragic and dramatic tension in the play is put in motion by setting an unyielding Antigone against King Creon. As we see through the investigation of how Germany, Japan, Spain, Yugoslavia and Turkey have dealt with their histories of mass violence and genocide in the 20th century, the forces represented by Antigone and Creon remain very much part of our world today.  Through a comparison of the five countries, their political institutions, and cultural traditions, we begin to appreciate the different pathways that societies have taken when confronting their violent histories.

Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.

Mark A. Wolfgram is a lecturer in political science at McGill University.  His previous book, Getting History Right: East and West German Collective Memories of the Holocaust and War was published by Bucknell University Press in 2011.
 

"Antigone’s Ghosts is unique and very ambitious in its comparative scope. I know of no other study that attempts to develop a similar model for analysis and comparative framework, and which identifies under what conditions societies engage self-critically with their difficult pasts of war and genocide."

"Antigone’s Ghosts is a useful resource for students and teachers interested in memories and legacies of conflict. Its multi-disciplinary and multi-sited interrogations render it particularly engaging for those interested in comparative methodology and pedagogy."