Monumental Disagreements

Posted Monday, May 28, 2012

For Memorial Day, we’re taking some time out to think about how and what Americans have memorialized. In this episode, we’ll attempt to breathe some life back into the debates and controversies that have surrounded some of our most iconic national monuments. We’ll pay particular attention to the way monuments often seem to say more about their creators than about the people they memorialize. Case-in-point: the Washington Monument, the subject of decades of controversy about what sort of country the founders meant this to be.

Guests

Brian Balogh, Professor of History, University of Virginia
Ed Ayers, President, University of Richmond
Peter Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Professor of History, University of Virginia