Illustrations
Preface
Introduction
1. The Land of the Lakota Sioux
2. Gutzon Borglum’s Mount Rushmore
3. George Washington Imagined
4. George Washington’s Mixed Messages
5. Thomas Jefferson’s Architectural Monuments
6. Thomas Jefferson’s Complicated Legacy
7. Abraham Lincoln Commemorated
8. Abraham Lincoln’s Evolution
9. Theodore Roosevelt’s Problematic Memorials
10. Theodore Roosevelt’s Contradictory Policies
Conclusion
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Harriet F. Senie is a professor emerita of art history at the City College of New York and at the CUNY Graduate Center. She co-founded Public Art Dialogue, an international organization, and its journal, Public Art Dialogue. Senie is the coeditor of Teachable Monuments: Using Public Art to Spark Dialogue and Confront Controversy and author of Memorials to Shattered Myths: Vietnam to 9/11, among other books.
“Monumental Controversies is a much-needed and overdue corrective
to what Harriet Senie rightly terms an either/or mindset that
dominates present-day discussions of historical monuments. . . . A
must-read for all Americans who yearn for a more informed and
nuanced assessment of our country’s commemorative tradition.”—Sally
Webster, author of The Nation’s First Monument and the Origins of
the American Memorial Tradition
“Harriet Senie has taken on the problematic and iconic Mount
Rushmore to cut to the heart of what is dividing America. . . . The
only way to move beyond toxic divisiveness is to reckon with
history, and this book offers a clear-eyed assessment of the
contributions and failings of U.S. presidents Washington,
Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt to pave the way for new national
origin stories. Senie draws on her extensive knowledge of public
commemorative sculpture to examine how these four men have been
honored in monumental form and how new memorials, institutions, and
initiatives are beginning to tell more accurate histories inclusive
of Indigenous and Black experiences and voices.”—Jennifer Wingate,
author of Sculpting Doughboys: Memory, Gender, and Taste in
America’s World War I Memorials
“How do monuments such as Mount Rushmore contribute to a national
myth in which the four presidents depicted—Washington, Jefferson,
Lincoln, Roosevelt—are lauded in history books as heroes, and yet
each, in their own way, held values which are no longer acceptable
in today’s world? Should their flaws, as grave as they may be,
obscure the contributions they brought to the nation? And who is to
judge? A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the
complexities inherent in America’s commemorative
landscape.”—Marie-Louise Jansen, program director of Contested
Histories, Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation, The
Hague, the Netherlands
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