Blunt Instruments: Recognizing Racist Cultural Infrastructure in Memorials, Museums, and Patriotic Practices

Table of Contents:
Introduction: White Lies Matters Section I: Memorials Monumental Basics Chapter One: Memorials: The Lost Cause Won  Memorial Timeline      Pre-1890: A Mixed Bag      1890-1920: The First Memorial Boom Chapter Two: Memorials: The Lost Cause Keeps Winning Memorial Timeline 1920-1980: Living Memorials and Dying Cities 1980-2010: The Second Memorial Boom in Three Acts 2010-Present: Tumbling Down and Rising Up Section II: Museums  Museum Basics Chapter Three: Museums: White Temples Emerged  Museum Timeline        Pre-1870: Cabinet of Curiosities        1870-1940: The First Golden Age of American Museums        Chapter Four: Museums: White Temples Reshaped? Museum Timeline                1965 - 2019: From King Tut to Emmett Till        The Summer of 2020 Section III: Patriotic Practices Patriotic Practice Basics Chapter Five: Patriotic Practices: Allegiance Gets Pledged  Patriotic Practices Timeline        1776-1865: A Fraught Beginning 1866-1917: Patriotism from the Ground Up Chapter Six: Patriotic Practices: Allegiance Gets Paid For Patriotic Practices Timeline        1917-1976: Federally Mandated Patriotism 2001-2021: Paid Patriotism and Outrageous Refusal

About the Author :
Kristin Ann Hass is a professor in the Department of American Culture and director of the Humanities Collaboratory at the University of Michigan. Her previous books include Sacrificing Soldiers on the National Mall and Carried to the Wall- American Memory and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. She was also the cofounder and associate director of Imagining America- Artists and Scholars in Public Life.

Review :
“With this much-needed book, even readers already engaging in more holistic history-telling will find meaningful ways to level up their critical thinking.” —Booklist, Starred Review “Hass offers a powerful exposé of the persistence of race in the ongoing public dialogue about citizenship and belonging.” —Library Journal “[An] ultra-compelling book . . . With this much-needed book, even readers already engaging in more holistic history-telling will find meaningful ways to level up their critical thinking.” —Publishers Weekly “If you have ever wanted to understand how and why monuments work, this stunning book is your decoder ring. . . . A sharp tool for interpreting the racial implications of America’s cultural and physical landscape.” —Tiya Miles, author of All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake “In Blunt Instruments, Kristin Hass deftly interrogates the hidden messages—those clearly understood but rarely spoken aloud—that shape what it means to be American today. It is a fascinating, urgent, eye-opening, and necessary read, offering a vision for a nation where all can thrive.” —Mark Clague, author of O Say Can You Hear? A Cultural Biography of “The Star-Spangled Banner” “For anyone and everyone interested in creating a more socially just world, this is essential reading! Blunt Instruments is an indispensable field guide that helps us all to understand and navigate debates surrounding memorials and monuments, museums, and everyday patriotic practices that have rocked our nation. Kristin Hass provides concise historical context, new language, and a powerful analysis that makes it impossible to see or unsee the world around us in the same way ever again. The lesson of this book is clear: cultural infrastructure plays a huge role in maintaining crushing inequities. Once we understand this, we can and must contribute to challenging and changing it.” —Dr. Lisa Yun Lee, executive director, National Public Housing Museum, and Associate Professor of Public Practice and Museum Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago