Memory Wars

A. Lynn Smith is a professor of anthropology and sociology at Lafayette College. She is a coauthor of Rebuilding Shattered Worlds: Creating Community by Voicing the Past (Nebraska, 2016) and author of Colonial Memory and Postcolonial Europe: Maltese Settlers in Algeria and France.

"Through its use of a wide range of sources and approaches, Memory Wars provides an excellent study of how divergent and complex forces have shaped public perception, memory, and the commemoration of a major historical event."-Matthew C. Ward, Journal of American History "As the country moves toward the 250th anniversary of the revolution, Memory Wars provides not only a case study of contemporary ambiguity over the revolution's legacies but a clear benchmark for how and why we should remember the nation's founding era."-Matthew Dziennik, H-War "Beginning with the question of how settlers dealt with the knowledge that their presence on particular lands resulted from others' dispossession, Smith examines an array of diverse, often overlooked primary sources and places them into conversation with theoretical studies on memory work and historical consciousness. The result is a much-needed intervention in early American studies."-J. W. Parmenter, Choice “A. Lynn Smith demonstrates the power of combining history and ethnography in the study of historical consciousness. At once a history of commemoration and an ethnography of remembrance, the book illuminates long, tangled histories of both settler and Native understandings of events at the heart of the American origin story.”-Geoffrey M. White, author of Memorializing Pearl Harbor: Unfinished Histories and the Work of Remembrance “Important and timely. Memory Wars is relevant to public historians, museum professionals, and others who study, create, and dismantle narratives consumed by the public at interpretive sites. It makes a contribution to early American history by challenging the interpretations of the Sullivan Expedition and its commemoration and the erasure of intra-settler conflicts. Finally, the research makes a significant contribution to Native American history.”-Dawn G. Marsh, author of A Lenape among the Quakers: The Life of Hannah Freeman “An excellent case study of historical memory formation that is relevant to contemporary debates over commemorations and the legacy of settler colonialism grounded in especially fascinating fieldwork. This is a very engaging read.”-Andrew Newman, author of On Records: Delaware Indians, Colonists, and the Media of History and Memory