16One of the most significant aspects of the recent historiography on war is the attention dedicated to the genesis of war's cultural image. In the last twenty years the representation of war in literature and the arts, in collective rituals and the media, has been central to much research. These studies recognize that the various means of communication constructing and disseminating the image of a conflict - from painting to cinema, novels to monuments, political rhetoric to religious preaching - help to shape a general narrative about war.What are the motives and what is the ultimate point of fighting and (above all) dying in war? How to legitimate the sacrifice needed for victory (or even for defeat)? Why, and on what terms, must the subject, the faithful Christian, the citizen risk their lives on the battlefield, if the pope, or the king or the $patria require them to?The narration of conflict feeds on literary and visual archetypes with century-long roots. A German postcard16 of the First World War represents the brave fallen soldier, watched over by his faithful steed, following iconographic codes similar to those in Renaissance painting; the 1940s British aviator is the heir of a long tradition of heroic epic harking back to medieval chivalric romance.This volume represents a discussion between leading North American and European scholars of different disciplines (from social history to the history of art) and of two crucial periods in the history of war, the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. Without neglecting the reality of conflict and its dramatic effects on civilian populations, they explore the changing Western narratives and discourses of war.04Marco Mondini and Massimo RospocherPrefaceMarco MondiniNarrated Wars. Literary and Iconographic Stereotypes in Historical Accounts of Armed ConflictPart I. Narrating Early Modern WarLauro MartinesNotes on War and Social HistoryJean-Louis FournelNarrating the Italian Wars (1494-1540). Contamination, Models, and KnowledgeChristine ShawWartime Propaganda during Charles VIII's Expedition to Italy, 1494/95Massimo RospocherSongs of War. Historical and Literary Narratives of the "Horrendous Italian Wars" (1494-1559)Vincenzo LaveniaIn God's Fields. Military Chaplains and Soldiers in Flanders during the Eighty Years' WarKrystina StermoleChivalric Combat in a Modern Landscape. Depicting Battle in Venetian Prints during the War of the League of Cambrai (1509-1516)Part II. Narrating Modern WarJay WinterBeyond Glory? Writing WarCarine Trevisan"Small Soldiers": When Children KillChrista HämmerleGendered Narratives of the First World War. The Example of Former04AustriaVictor DemiauxInter-Allied Community? Rituals and Transnational Narratives of the Great WarRoberto BianchiThe Great War in Comics. Italy and France, 1914-2012Nicola LabancaItalian War Memorials after the Two World Wars. Notes from a Regional Research ProjectRuth Ben-GhiatNarrating War in Fascist Empire CinemaGustavo CorniThe Story of the War on the Eastern Front in Italy and GermanyAuthors13"Cet ouvrage comporte néanmoins l'immense intérêt de présenter de manière synthétique nombre de problématiques, de méthodes et d'exemples pour le traitement des récits de guerre. La diversité des sources et la rigueur avec laquelle elles sont interrogées offrent un excellent aperçu des pistes thématiques et méthodologiques suivies aujourd'hui par une historiographie de la guerre plus dynamique que jamais, ainsi que des apports de l'interdisciplinarité dans ce domaine." Benjamin Deruelle, in: Annales HSS, 71. Jg, 1/2016