Blunt Instruments

September 1, 2022

In this impassioned book, Hass (American culture, Univ. of Michigan; Sacrificing Soldiers on the National Mall) reveals the racism embedded in the United States' monuments, museums, and customs. Her analyses of innocuous-seeming symbols (a courthouse statue of the World War I Doughboy; a museum's "primitive art" collection; the national anthem at a baseball game) reveal that a good deal of effort has gone into hiding their message of white supremacy. These everyday affirmations of racial hierarchy, as Hass calls them, have a history. For example, Civil War memorials mostly proliferated 30 or so years after the war had ended, strengthening Jim Crow in the face of heightened immigration. Despite efforts to tell contrasting stories--as with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (1982) and the numerous museums of African American art and history founded since the 1960s--narratives of racial hierarchy persist. Hass anchors this history with guiding principles ("cultural infrastructure is often motivated by collective anxiety") and corresponding questions ("what past was being invented and for whom?"); the book falters only when these signposts interrupt her compelling examples and deft interpretations. VERDICT Hass offers a powerful expos� of the persistence of race in the ongoing public dialogue about citizenship and belonging.--Robert Beauregard

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 12, 2022
Hass (Sacrificing Soldiers on the National Mall), a professor of American culture at the University of Michigan, delivers a succinct and illuminating “field guide... to racist cultural infrastructure in the United States.” Unearthing “the power of the ordinary... to naturalize simple untruths,” Hass examines Civil War memorials, museums, public parks, and such patriotic rituals as the Pledge of Allegiance. Throughout, she calls into question the apparent timelessness and naturalness of these places, objects, and practices and uncovers the messages of white supremacy embedded within them. For example, Hass shows that most Confederate statues were erected decades after the Civil War and were intended as much to intimidate Black Southerners as to pay tribute to Confederate soldiers and officers. She also reveals the messages of racial and ethnic hierarchy encoded in displays at the American Museum of Natural History and other institutions, and notes that rituals venerating the American flag have emerged when the nation feels itself threatened, whether by mass immigration in the 1890s–1900s, Soviet communism in the 1950s, or terrorism in the early 21st century. Though Hass covers well-trod ground, this is a lucid and immersive primer for those seeking background on recent debates over how America honors its past. Illus.

Starred review from November 1, 2022
Hass' (Sacrificing Soldiers on the National Wall, 2013) ultra-compelling book provides a framework for thinking critically about cultural infrastructure that was designed to seem natural, neutral, and benign, yet which factually makes powerful, never-neutral arguments about national identity and belonging. This "field guide" empowers people to ask a series of revealing questions, starting with when the place or practice was created. The six chapters are organized by lines of inquiry into memorials, museums, and patriotic practices, each cross-sectioned by chronological blocks. Hass repeatedly underscores that this work often requires holding multiple ideas at once: museums can be sources of magical inspiration and reinforcers of racist logic and white supremacy. Researched surveys of the "boom" periods for memorials and museums are fascinating, with Hass arguing convincingly that these entities focus on contemporary anxieties more than on the person or event supposedly being remembered. Similarly, the U.S. flag, the Confederate flag, "The Star-Spangled Banner," and the Pledge of Allegiance all have origins beyond what is taught. Hass makes clear the racism cloaked by these blunt instruments, which conversely proclaim liberty for all. With this much-needed book, even readers already engaging in more holistic history-telling will find meaningful ways to level up their critical thinking.

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