Rose, Julia. Interpreting Difficult History at Museums and Historic Sites . Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, paperback ￡23.95, hardback ￡49.95, pp. xvi+215. Gokcigdem, Elif M. Fostering Empathy Through Museums . Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, paperback ￡29.95, hardback ￡65, pp. xxxii+296.

摘要

In the early hours of April 24, 2017, crews in New Orleans, Louisiana, donned headgear, masks, and bulletproof vests to begin dismantling monuments to Confederate leaders and segregation. They undertook this task under cover of night because white supremacists threatened to halt the process, even though the city government had ruled that it was time for these testaments to social inequality be removed. This incident illustrates the continuing power of memorials and museums to generate controversy and reminds us that visitors may lack empathy for victims of oppression and resist efforts to render history more inclusive. Fortunately, two recent books, Julia Rose's Interpreting Difficult History at Museums and Historic Sites and Elif Gokcigdem's Fostering Empathy Through Museums, offer practitioners theories and strategies for overcoming these challenges.