Full Product Details
Author: Robert C. Post
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Imprint: Johns Hopkins University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 14.00cm
, Height: 3.00cm
, Length: 21.60cm
Weight: 0.726kg
ISBN: 9781421411002
ISBN 10: 1421411008
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 10 December 2013
Recommended Age: From 18 years
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Reviews
A pick for any collection strong in museum management and history... The result goes beyond a recommendation for arts holdings, examining how American history itself is documented and presented. Midwest Book Review The Smithsonian finally gets its Washington insider-tells-all memoir... Who Owns America's Past? documents the value of the Smithsonian's distinctive culture -- and also the way it has kept the institution from being all that it might be. -- Steven Lubar The American Historian Post... weaves original primary source research, scholarly synthesis, and personal experiences into a highly readable study of the cultural history of America's most popular museum institution. -- Nick Sacco Museums and Social Issues Post's thoughtful elucidation of the exhibits and the ensuing controversies demonstrate the complexities of the environment in the national museum in the 20th century. Further, this work documents the shifting priorities of the Smithsonian, revealing the many different actors that took part in the creation of both well-known exhibits and many smaller ones. The book also provides many interesting and important examples of the interconnections between historians of history and technology and the Smithsonian. This excellent work will be valuable to public historians as well as laypersons. Choice
A pick for any collection strong in museum management and history... The result goes beyond a recommendation for arts holdings, examining how American history itself is documented and presented. Midwest Book Review
Author Information
Robert C. Post, now curator emeritus, was employed by the Smithsonian for twenty-three years, beginning in 1973. He was responsible for several technological collections and story-driven exhibits. His books include Urban Mass Transit: The Life Story of a Technology and High Performance: The Culture and Technology of Drag Racing, 1950-2000, both published by Johns Hopkins. He also edited the quarterly journal Technology and Culture, also published by Johns Hopkins. The Society for the History of Technology awarded him the Leonardo da Vinci Medal, its highest honor. Who Owns America's Past? combines information from hitherto-untapped archival sources, extensive interviews, a thorough review of the secondary literature, and considerable personal experience.
