Book Review: Tourists of History

In December 2001, on a trip to New York City, my traveling companions and I visited Ground Zero. I remember finding the spectacle surrounding the hunt for remains to be slightly distasteful; street vendors sold their wares, providing tourists, like us, with souvenirs of the pilgrimage. I remember the makeshift memorials, marked by flowers, flyers and candles, scattered around the perimeter of the site. The sight and site of such loss moved me to tears. Little did I realize at the time that I experienced firsthand “the kitschification of cultural memory in American culture,” described in detail in Marita Sturken’s recent book Tourists of History: Memory, Kitsch, and Consumerism from Oklahoma City to Ground Zero.
 
In her book, Sturken explores, in depth, the American people’s reaction to those two significant events in a multifaceted way, touching on politics, culture, economics, and much more. The author describes not only the political and economic responses springing forth, but also the memorialization and symbolism surrounding these two domestic and catastrophic events. As Sturken writes in the Introduction, “Tourists of History explores the complex intersection of cultural memory, tourism, consumerism, paranoia, security, and kitsch that has defined American culture over the past two decades and the ways that these cultural practices are related to the deep investment in the concept of innocence in American culture.”[1]
 
In so doing, the author devotes two chapters to each devastating event. In Chapter 2, “Citizens and Survivors: Cultural Memory and Oklahoma City,” and Chapter 3, “The Spectacle of Death and the Spectacle of Grief: the Execution of Timothy McVeigh,” she explores two seemingly different yet related aspects of the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing. Chapter 2 examines the memorialization of the bombing victims and the establishment of the site’s public memorial, while Chapter 3 examines the memorialization involved with Timothy McVeigh’s execution. By juxtaposing them, Sturken highlights the surprising similarities of these two types of memorialization. With the subsequent chapters, Chapter 4, “Tourism and ‘Sacred Ground’: The Space of Ground Zero,” and Chapter 5, “Architectures of Grief and the Aesthetics of Absence,” Sturken uses a similar approach. In Chapter 4, she examines the contested meanings surrounding the site, which are results “of conflicting discourses of sacredness, memory, commerce, urban design, and politics that reveal, among other things, the complex ownership, both economic and emotional, that defines the site.”[2] Here she focuses on the physical space and ground of the site. In Chapter 5, by comparison, Sturken analyzes the design proposals for the site’s memorial which have sparked heated debate; she again focuses on the physical space, but in a more theoretical way, as the memorial’s construction has not yet been completed. In addition, each chapter incorporates discussion on kitsch, consumerism, and memorialization, highlighting the similarities and differences of each destruction site.
 
As non-fiction devoted to recent history, the book Tourists of History is a fascinating look at our modern culture. The author shines light on the tourism and consumerism, two very American ideas, which developed after the Oklahoma City bombing and September 11th, in varying degrees. According to one book reviewer, Theresa Kintz, “Sturken seeks to illuminate the transformation of the secular into the sacred, and the intersection of two cultures: that of mourning and that of consumerism.”[3] Sturken unfolds her story slowly and completely, introducing key elements one at a time, stressing their importance through repetition. However, at times, the author injects her personal political or philosophical views into the argument which often distracts from the story she is telling.
 
So, how does Sturken’s story relate to museums? What does the book Tourists of History mean for museums and museum professionals? How does her interesting exploration of recent and memorable events relate to museums, in general, and museum ethics, specifically? While these questions are not explicitly addressed in the text much can be gleamed from Sturken’s discussions.
 
One related issue is memorialization. (In fact, Sturken has written two books on the subject of memory: not just Tourists of History but also Tangled Memories: The Vietnam War, the AIDS Epidemic, and the Politics of Remembering.) How does one create a memorial devoted to sites of destruction? How does one commemorate the loss of so many people without becoming vulgar? Memorialization is a growing issue within the museum field, not just domestically in the United States, but internationally as well. For instance, many museums and memorials have been established, here and abroad, devoted to the Holocaust. Most of them have succeeded in remembering the event while respecting those lives lost. Since memorialization is relevant to their work, as they preserve for posterity, museum professionals, particularly those working at memorials or similar institutions, should understand the complex issues imbued and surrounding the topic.
 
Tourists of History provides insight into memorialization of American history. In particular, Sturken sheds light on the public’s immediate reaction to the two events and how that response influenced subsequent developments, such as the establishment of memorials at both the Oklahoma City bombing site and Ground Zero. For both, the memorial institutions have resoundingly responded to their constituents. For the Oklahoma City National Memorial, for instance, the local community led the efforts to establish a memorial and a museum dedicated to the event. According to Sturken, “The rapid pace at which it was built, the participation of many people, the intense focus on the needs and desires of the survivors and families, and the role the memorial plays in the revival of the economics of Oklahoma City have converged to make this site one of the most self-conscious memorials built in the United States.”[4] Sturken adds that the community’s drive to establish the memorial in Oklahoma City stemmed from its drive to find comfort and even possibly healing after the event.
 
In contrast is what occurred after September 11th in New York City. Whereas the Oklahoma City community united in the desire for a memorial in order to heal, the New York City community divided in its response to the proposed memorial designs. Sturken writes, “The process of constructing a memorial in Oklahoma City was one of hard-won consensus, in which high stakes were placed on reaching agreement and creating a smooth process. In New York, the different factions have found their place, so to speak, in opposition to each other rather than by working together.”[5] According to the author, the circumstances in New York, revolving around a memorial at Ground Zero, reflect not only a turn towards memorialization in the United States in the last generation but also a changing history of memorialization in New York specifically.
 
Thus, in discussing how both Oklahoma City and New York wanted to memorialize their respective events, Sturken provides thought provoking discussion related to museum ethics. Her chosen examples are perfect foils to each other. While the memorial in Oklahoma City is marked by consensus, the memorial at Ground Zero has been and will continue to be marked by controversy and heated debate. In Oklahoma City, the memorial honors each victim individually without becoming a mausoleum. In New York, by contrast, the memorial design incorporates a room devoted to the Ground Zero dust, a percentage of which contains human remains, as almost half of the victims were never found. Are these the signs of the times regarding memorialization? Will memorials and museums be plagued with similar discord among their constituents? Are memorials, especially those devoted to the loss of lives, to incorporate both memory and remains? Which path creates the better memorial museum? These are just some of the ethical questions which must be carefully considered by those professionals working towards establishing or redefining a memorial museum.
 
A couple of weeks ago, shortly after I finished reading Tourists of History, I returned to Ground Zero with another friend, more than six years after my first visit. On that quiet Sunday afternoon, we were not the only ones to visit the construction site, to witness the progression of rebuilding, and to pay our respects to those lost forever. Even though the construction crews were silenced by the weekend, a respectful quiet seemed to permeate the site, quite a difference from my original visit. Now, after reading Sturken’s book, I understood the complex controversy surrounding the construction. Once the National September 11th Memorial and Museum is open, I look forward to return to see how the institution has handled the ethical issues surrounding its design. Perhaps then Sturken could publish an updated edition of Tourists of History: Memory, Kitsch, and Consumerism from Oklahoma City to Ground Zero.
 
Reviewed by Leslie Meyer, July 26, 2008.

[1] Marita Sturken. Tourists of History: Memory, Kitsch, and Consumerism from Oklahoma City to Ground Zero. (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2007), p. 4.

[2] Sturken. Tourists of History: p. 33.

[3] Theresa Kintz. “Book Review of Tourists of History: Memory, Kitsch, and Consumerism from Oklahoma City to Ground Zero.” Library Journal 132 (Nov 15, 2007), p. 74.

[4] Sturken. Tourists of History, p.104.

[5] Ibid, p.259.