Shadowed Ground America's Landscapes of Violence and Tragedy
- List Price: $45.00
- Binding: Hardcover
- Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr
- Publish date: 05/01/1997
In this pioneering book, Kenneth E. Foote explores how and why Americans have memorialized -- or not -- the sites of tragic and violent events. Drawing on years of travel and reflection, he traces the history of sites spanning three centuries and every region of the United States.
Foote deduces that Americans usually react to the scenes of tragedy in one of four ways. Many places undergo public sanctification, such as Memphis' Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated. Some are simply designated with a marker, while others are rectified and returned to normal use. Those that produce shame and revulsion are often obliterated and left empty. These differing reactions to sites of violence offer an important new perspective to the debate over violence in American society.