Preserving Memory: The Struggle to Create America's Holocaust Museum

This is another book from my graduate school's required reading list. It deals with the fifteen year journey to create the American Holocaust Museum. I have visited the museum once - many years ago, but it definitely left a lasting impression. I think many schools make a point of visiting this museum - and rightly so. This behind-the-scenes book is absolutely fascinating. It is straightforward and very illuminating. Clearly written and very engaging, I would be interested in hearing feedback on this book from the key players involved. Elie Wiesel's role surprised me in this. And I do wish that there had been more of a push to include more on the first stages of this slaughter - with hospitals, care facilities and asylums - an aspect that is often overlooked. The sterilization projects weren't even mentioned here. The exclusionary tone of the museum itself surprised me and I really didn't expect victims to snipe and minimize one another rather than banding together more tightly... I think that this will definitely lead to an interesting class discussion!

This book may appeal to a small audience, but it tells a great story. It describes the lengthy but worthwhile struggle of a group of people doing what seemed impossible at first: building a museum that was in Washington and the present , but about events that took place in Europe in the past. And finding a way to make it relevant and moving to all those seeking inspiration for how to live morally in their world. The writer finds a way to make the struggles come alive, as the Holocaust Commission found a way to create a museum that was Jewish but of value to all visitors, a story of horror that could be at home next to the grassy Mall and marble elegance of Washington DC. It made me want to examine and re-examine every square inch of the museum now that I understood how much love and work had gone into it.

A clear and well-written guide to the planning, design and message of the Holocaust Museum. Highly readable and resourcefully researched. An excellent example of monograph on historical memory.

This book is about the museum and finding a place where all victims can be represented.

Excellent condition.

I haven't read the book yet, but it arrived as promised and in good condition.

A Highly informative and yet very readable account of the building of the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC and the politics behind it. This is one of those books that by the end you have learned alot.

To tackle a subject as complex and controversial as the development of the Holocaust Museum is a great challenge, but one that Linenthal approaches with sympathy, balance and a clarity making the textual content thorough yet readable. Covering all aspects of the design and construction, as well as all the major players involved, this is an invaluable text for anyone interested in museum studies, the Holocaust or planning a visit, highlighting with an honesty how this event is still so hard to come terms with. With a very clear structure, Linenthal successfully traverses the story of conception, interpretation, message, artefacts, individuals, historical truth and perspective, through to the construction and completion of the museum. Ranging from an overall, broad socio-political context to in depth studies of individual exhibits, this is the complete guide.

A fascinating history of the story behind the US Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. Clearly written and well illustrated, Linenthal's book gives a behind-the-scenes look at the personalities and arguments behind one of the world's most successful musuems. It is easy to forget how close it came to failing and how important were the key contributions by unsung heroes: the architects, designers and fund-raisers. The politics are intriguing. Inevitably, politicians got their fingers in every pie and the dbeates between museum professionals, historians and Holocaust survivors show how homogenoeous ideas of 'the Holocaust industry' can be very misleading. Finally, 'Preserving Memory' shows how interesting the issues behind museums can be, partiicularly with such a historically sensitive subject.