Nostalgia and pragmatism

Todd Buell | Issue 6 | Comment, Magazine

From the Archive

We have to balance a nostalgic desire to hold on to the past with the realities of the future

The documentary Moundsville (released 2020) concerns the loss of industrial jobs in a small town in the American state of West Virginia. The documentary opens with individuals speaking about how life was in the town’s better years. A handful of residents identify these “better years” as the 1950s. The responses are as predictable as they are tragic. In those days, it was easy to find good work at a factory, and children routinely ate dinner at each other’s homes. There was a sense of community and belonging that doesn’t exist in the same way today. In a follow-up interview on the AMDG Jesuit podcast, the film’s co-director, John W. Miller, spoke about this overriding sense of nostalgia shared by many of the town’s citizens. He recalls the inhabitants’ memories of an era when residents could erect a Christmas tree atop the native American burial mound that gives the town its name, a practice that ended about forty years ago to show respect to Native American heritage. Miller perceiv...

Subscribe to The Mace

Join the member community shaping British politics and stay ahead of what's really happening in the world of politics and public affairs, with expert analysis, breaking news, and insider insights from Westminster and Brussels. The Mace is the leading news source and resource for the government affairs industry, offering required reading and lobby intelligence for professionals.

To see what you are missing out on by not subscribing to The Mace, click here to download our full membership info-pack. This includes having no paywall on op-ed content or profiles/interviews, allowing professional profiles to be read with maximum impact and visibility by government, special advisers, MPs, peers, civil servants, and policy and political decision-makers.