US Public Memory, Rhetoric, and the National Mall: (Lexington Studies in Contemporary Rhetoric)

US Public Memory, Rhetoric, and the National Mall examines “the nation’s front yard,” understanding it as both a public face the United States presents to the world and a site where its less apparent moral story is told. This book provides a uniquely thorough, interdisciplinary, and integrated examination of how the National Mall shares a moral story of the United States and, in so doing, reveals the soul of the nation. The contributors explore 11 different memorials, monuments, and museums found across the Mall, considering how each rhetorically remembers a key element of the nation’s past, what the rhetorical memory tells us about the nation’s soul, and how each site must thus be understood in relation to the commemorative landscape of the Mall.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Chapter 1. Introduction: The Soul of the Nation Roger C. Aden Chapter 2. Civic Tourism and the Washington Monument Casey R. Schmitt Chapter 3. Placemaking and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial: An Exploration in User-experience Design John A. McArthur Chapter 4. Myth and Accountability: The Negotiation of Rhetorical Tensions in the Korean War Veterans Memorial Michael R. Kramer Chapter 5. Commemorating in America’s Front Yard: The National World War II Memorial and the Public Memory Landscape of the National Mall Jennifer L. Jones Barbour Chapter 6. A Requiem and a Dream: Discerning the Rhetorical Significance of the Lincoln Memorial Raymond Blanton Chapter 7. The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial as a Site of Virtuous Suffering Lawrence J. Prelli Chapter 8. Entrepreneurs and Immigrants: Representing American Identity in the National Museum of American History Jennifer Keohane Chapter 9. Intergenerational Cultural Trauma and the National Museum of the American Indian Ernest Stromberg Chapter 10. Public Memory as Contested Site: The Struggle for Existence at the National Museum of African American History and Culture Timothy J. Brown Chapter 11. Extending the National Narrative: The MLK Memorial and the Museum of African American History and Culture Lisa Benton-Short Chapter 12. Memorials behind the One We See: The Story of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Karen A. Franck Chapter 13. Stepping into History: Time and Dialogue in the Progressive Experience of the FDR Memorial Catherine L. Langford Chapter 14. Conclusion: Soul Searching and Public Memory on the National Mall Roger C. Aden

About the Author :
Roger C. Aden is professor in the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University.

Review :
Memorials, like people, have biographies, and these thoughtful essays escort readers into the vibrant, challenging world of memorial processes on our National Mall. Few places in the US are more central to US national identity than is the National Mall in Washington, DC. This book engages a crucial question regarding this space: “How does the National Mall reflect the soul of the nation?” The lively and accessible chapters collected address this central question with care and charisma. This is a fine book about the National Mall. It is also a dynamic introduction to the rhetorical and cultural study of memory places and national identity.