Since 1988 Robert R. Archibald has been president and CEO of the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis, Missouri. An active member of many professional and community organizations and author of The New Town Square: Museums and Communities in Transition (AltaMira 2004), he writes and speaks on numerous topics from history and historical practice to community building and environmental responsibility.

Archibald thinks that the time has come when public history organizations will be asked to take more responsibility in facilitating methods of doing public business. The skills needed to achieve consensus must inevitably take into account those experiences in the collective past which further understanding. His book is worth reading and studying by museum staffs and historical society boards, and I would urge that they circulate a copy and discuss it.

• Chapter 1 AcknowledgmentsChapter 2 1 Facing the PastChapter 3 2 RemembranceChapter 4 3 Somewhere in TimeChapter 5 4 Speaking with the PastChapter 6 5 Common GroundChapter 7 6 Values at the CoreChapter 8 7 IntersectionsChapter 9 8 Friends and ColleaguesChapter 10 9 Everybody's BusinessChapter 11 10 Facing the FutureChapter 12 A Brief BooklistChapter 13 About the Author