-
Biographical Fraud and Traumatic Nationalism: Joseph Ellis's Vietnam Testimony
- Biography
- University of Hawai'i Press
- Volume 29, Number 4, Fall 2006
- pp. 605-614
- 10.1353/bio.2007.0007
- Article
- Additional Information
- Purchase/rental options available:
In 2001, the Boston Globe reported that Joseph Ellis, an award-winning presidential biographer and professor of history, had lied to students and reporters about having served in the Vietnam War. This essay presents the Ellis scandal as an example of how traumatic events serve as vehicles for national affiliation, and of how the concept of trauma misrepresents our relationship to history.