Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / AASLH
Pages: 180
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-1-4422-7918-6 • Hardback • October 2017 • $98.00 • (£75.00)
978-1-4422-7919-3 • Paperback • October 2017 • $47.00 • (£36.00)
978-1-4422-7920-9 • eBook • October 2017 • $44.50 • (£35.00)
Seth C. Bruggeman is an associate professor of History at Temple University, where he periodically directs the Center for Public History. His books include Born in the USA: Birth and Commemoration in American Public Memory, and Here, George Washington Was Born: Memory, Material Culture, and the Public History of a National Monument.
1. Introduction: Conundrum and Nuance in American Memory - Seth C. Bruggeman
2. The Exhibition and the Funeral: Commemoration as Display - Tammy S. Gordon
3. Festivals as a Commemorative Genre - William S. Walker
4. Reenactment: Performing the Past - Cathy Stanton
5. A Local Commemoration of National Significance - Anne C. Reilly
6. Get Territorial: Idaho at 150 - Janet L. Gallimore
7. Global Histories and Cross-Border Commemoration - Adam Hjorthén
8. Sir John A. Macdonald and the Problem of Great Men - Jean-Pierre Morin
9. Gay is Good: Commemorating LGBTQ History - Kenneth C. Turino
10. Sacred Subjects: Religion and Commemoration in America - Devin C. Manzullo-Thomas
11. Commemoration as Activism - Patrick Grossi
12. Alive in Our Imagination: The Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War - Rick Beard and Bob Beatty
13. Commemorating Tragedy at Mother Emanuel AME Church - George W. McDaniel
14. Afterword: Commemoration, Conversation, and Public Feeling in America Today - Erika Doss
[T]his volume lays out a collection of succinct and straightforward discussions that speak to the complexities inherent in public commemoration that heritage professionals will find insightful, applicable, and thought-provoking. With examples and case studies rooted in the present and recent past, Commemoration offers a helpful glimpse into contemporary commemorative practice and does so with a decidedly forward-thinking lens, offering honest reflections on the challenges, deficiencies, and common pitfalls that face those treading into the slippery yet weighty territory of public memory, feeling, and remembrance.
— The Public Historian
While stone and metal monuments, sanctioned landscapes, and applied commemorative phrases might appear stationary, their value and role will always be fluid continuously evolving to serve the dynamism of future generations. This collection of essays assembled by Seth C. Bruggeman encourages public historians and other heritage professionals to rattle public memory, to challenge complacent narratives, and to scrutinize and reclaim public memory in order to purposely and productively make remembrances relevant. — Julia Rose