This evening at 7 PM, Dr. Harriet F. Senie, who will give a lecture about her new book, Memorials to Shattered Myths: Vietnam to 9/11, focusing on chapters devoted to the Oklahoma City Bombing (April 19, 1995) and the shooting at Columbine High School (April 20, 1999).

On the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, President William J.  Clinton stated: “Oklahoma City made us all Americans again.”  According to Edward Linenthal, author of The Unfinished Bombing, however, “The Oklahoma City bombing was situated within starkly contrasting convictions about the essence of American identity.”  Senie will unpack these observations and other contradictions that abound in the built memorials to the destruction in Oklahoma as well as the shootings at Columbine High School.  Her talk will define the new memorial paradigm that conflates memorials and cemeteries; consider the practice of heroicizing victims; point out what is lost when any mention of the perpetrators is eliminated; and emphasize problematic aspects of the memorial process that was followed at Oklahoma City and Columbine, two events that have become so embedded in our history that we now refer to them only by where they took place.

Memorials to Shattered Myths was published by Oxford University Press. The book will be available for purchase at the special price of $25 (tax included) at the reception after the talk.

Presented by Pen + Brush
29 East 22nd Street New York, NY 10010
Tuesday, April 19, 2016 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
The event is free