Smashing Statues

The Rise and Fall of America's Public Monuments

Erin L. Thompson (City University of New York)

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English

WW Norton & Co
29 March 2023

The Arts: General & Reference; Non-graphic art forms; History of the Americas; Politics & government

An urgent and fractious national debate over public monuments has erupted in America. Some people risk imprisonment to tear down long-ignored hunks of marble; others form armed patrols to defend them. Why do we care so much about statues? Which ones should stay up and which should come down? Who should make these decisions, and how?

Erin L. Thompson, the country's leading expert in the tangled aesthetic, legal, political, and social issues involved in such battles, brings much-needed clarity in Smashing Statues. She lays bare the turbulent history of American monuments and its abundant ironies, from the enslaved man who helped make the statue of Freedom that tops the United States Capitol, to the fervent Klansman fired from sculpting the world's largest Confederate monument-who went on to carve Mount Rushmore. And she explores the surprising motivations behind contemporary flashpoints, including the toppling of a statue of Columbus at the Minnesota State Capitol, the question of who should be represented on the Women's Rights Pioneers Monument in Central Park, and the decision by a museum of African American culture to display a Confederate monument removed from a public park.

Written with great verve and informed by a keen sense of American history, Smashing Statues gives readers the context they need to consider the fundamental questions for rebuilding not only our public landscape but our nation as a whole: Whose voices must be heard, and whose pain must remain private?

By: Erin L. Thompson (City University of New York)
Imprint: WW Norton & Co
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 211mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 225g
ISBN: 9781324050490
ISBN 10: 1324050497
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 29 March 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Erin L. Thompson is a professor of art crime at the City University of New York and the author of Possession: The Curious History of Private Collectors. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, and Smithsonian Magazine. She lives in New York.

Reviews for Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of America's Public Monuments

[A] trenchant account...Full of intriguing historical tidbits and incisive cultural analysis, this is a worthy study of a complex and controversial issue.-- Publishers Weekly A crisply written book encompassing law, art, history and politics that contextualizes the American debate over monuments.-- Library Journal (starred review) Offers a probing examination of the meaning of public monuments...A well-informed, often surprising, history of public veneration.-- Kirkus Reviews