{"product_id":"blunt-instruments-isbn-9780807006719","title":"Blunt Instruments","description":"\u003cb\u003eA field guide to the memorials, museums, and practices that commemorate white supremacy in the United States—and how to reimagine a more deeply shared cultural infrastructure for the future\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCultural infrastructure has been designed to maintain structures of inequality, and while it doesn’t seem to be explicitly about race, it often is. \u003ci\u003eBlunt Instruments\u003c\/i\u003e helps readers identify, contextualize, and name elements of our everyday landscapes and cultural practices that are designed to seem benign or natural but which, in fact, work tirelessly to tell us vital stories about who we are, how we came to be, and who belongs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eExamining landmark moments such as the erection of the first American museum and Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling pledge of allegiance, historian Kristin Hass explores the complicated histories of sites of cultural infrastructure, such as:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e· the American Museum of Natural History\u003cbr\u003e· the Bridge to Freedom in Selma\u003cbr\u003e· the Washington Monument\u003cbr\u003e· Mount Auburn Cemetery\u003cbr\u003e· Kehinde Wiley’s 2019 sculpture \u003ci\u003eRumors of War\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e· the Victory Highway\u003cbr\u003e· the Alamo Cenotaph\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith sharp analysis and a broad lens, Hass makes the undeniable case that understanding what cultural infrastructure is, and the deep and broad impact that it has, is essential to understanding how structures of inequity are maintained and how they might be dismantled.\u003cb\u003eIntroduction: White Lies Matters \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSection I: Memorials\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Monumental Basics\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter One: Memorials: The Lost Cause Won  \u003cbr\u003e Memorial Timeline      \u003cbr\u003e Pre-1890: A Mixed Bag      \u003cbr\u003e 1890-1920: The First Memorial Boom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Two: Memorials: The Lost Cause Keeps Winning \u003cbr\u003e Memorial Timeline\u003cbr\u003e 1920-1980: Living Memorials and Dying Cities\u003cbr\u003e 1980-2010: The Second Memorial Boom in Three Acts\u003cbr\u003e 2010-Present: Tumbling Down and Rising Up\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSection II: Museums  Museum Basics\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Three: Museums: White Temples Emerged  \u003cbr\u003e Museum Timeline        \u003cbr\u003e Pre-1870: Cabinet of Curiosities        \u003cbr\u003e 1870-1940: The First Golden Age of American Museums        \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Chapter Four: Museums: White Temples Reshaped?\u003cbr\u003e Museum Timeline                \u003cbr\u003e 1965 - 2019: From King Tut to Emmett Till        \u003cbr\u003e The Summer of 2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSection III: Patriotic Practices \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Patriotic Practice Basics\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Five: Patriotic Practices: Allegiance Gets Pledged  \u003cbr\u003e Patriotic Practices Timeline        \u003cbr\u003e 1776-1865: A Fraught Beginning\u003cbr\u003e 1866-1917: Patriotism from the Ground Up\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Six: Patriotic Practices: Allegiance Gets Paid For\u003cbr\u003e Patriotic Practices Timeline        \u003cbr\u003e 1917-1976: Federally Mandated Patriotism\u003cbr\u003e 2001-2021: Paid Patriotism and Outrageous Refusal“With this much-needed book, even readers already engaging in more holistic history-telling will find meaningful ways to level up their critical thinking.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e, Starred Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Hass offers a powerful exposé of the persistence of race in the ongoing public dialogue about citizenship and belonging.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[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.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“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.”\u003cbr\u003e—Tiya Miles, author of \u003ci\u003eAll That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In \u003ci\u003eBlunt Instruments\u003c\/i\u003e, 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.”\u003cbr\u003e—Mark Clague, author of \u003ci\u003eO Say Can You Hear? A Cultural Biography of “The Star-Spangled Banner”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“For anyone and everyone interested in creating a more socially just world, this is essential reading! \u003ci\u003eBlunt Instruments\u003c\/i\u003e 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.”\u003cbr\u003e—Dr. Lisa Yun Lee, executive director, National Public Housing Museum, and Associate Professor of Public Practice and Museum Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago\u003cb\u003eKristin Ann Hass\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor in the Department of American Culture and director of the Humanities Collaboratory at the University of Michigan. Her previous books include \u003ci\u003eSacrificing Soldiers on the National Mall and Carried to the Wall: American Memory and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial\u003c\/i\u003e. She was also the cofounder and associate director of Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life.","brand":"Beacon Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304843661541,"sku":"NP9780807006719","price":25.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780807006719.jpg?v=1767722881","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/blunt-instruments-isbn-9780807006719","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}