Foote (geography, U. of Colorado at Boulder) reflects on pictured US sites that continue to haunt Americans, from Gallows Hill of the Salem witchcraft trials to memorials to heroes of the civil rights and antiwar movements. His extension of his 1997 analysis of the complex factors that shape commemoration is timely for the current debate over how to best honor the victims of 9/11. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
From reviews of the first edition:
"This splendid, well-written, amply documented volume is remarkable in several respects, including the fact that, despite being the first extended treatment of its subject, it is likely to remain the definitive one."
—Professional Geographer
"A fascinating look at the American obsession with historically violent and tragic places."
—Western Historical Quarterly
"Attitudes, values, beliefs, and experiences all play a part in the national collective unconscious that leads some sites to be sanctified, others to be obliterated, and still others to be ignored. Foote provides a valuable perspective on this process in a well-written and thoroughly illustrated book that offers a provocative theoretical perspective on the imprinting of historical memory on the American landscape."
—Public Historian
"[ This] is an erudite history and description of how Americans have, or have not, interpreted/recognized the meaning of violent and tragic events throughout their history."
—Space and Culture
Shadowed Ground explores how and why Americans have memorialized—or not—the sites of tragic and violent events spanning three centuries of history and every region of the country. For this revised edition, Kenneth Foote has written a new concluding chapter that looks at the evolving responses to recent acts of violence and terror, including the destruction of the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine High School massacre, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
