In recent years, history has been increasingly popularized through television docudramas, history museums, paperback historical novels, grassroots community history projects, and other public representations of historical knowledge. This collection of lively and accessible essays is the first examination of the rapidly growing field called "public history." Based in part on articles written for the Radical History Review, these eighteen original essays take a sometimes irreverent look at how history is presented to the public in such diverse settings as children's books, Colonial Williamsburg, and the Statue of Liberty, Presenting the Past is organized into three areas which consider the role of mass media ("Packaging the Past"), the affects of applied history ("Professionalizing the Past") and the importance of grassroots efforts to shape historical consciousness ("Politicizing the Past"). The first section examines the large-scale production and dissemination of popular history by mass culture. The contributors criticize many of these Hollywood and Madison Avenue productions that promote historical amnesia or affirm dominant values and institutions. In "Professionalizing the Past," the authors show how non-university based professional historians have also affected popular historical consciousness through their work in museums, historic preservation, corporations, and government agencies. Finally, the book considers what has been labeled "people's history"--oral history projects, slide shows, films, and local exhibits--and assesses its attempts to reach such diverse constituents as workers, ethnic groups, women, and gays. Of essential interest to students of history, Presenting the Past also explains to the general reader how Americans have come to view themselves, their ancestors, and their heritage through the influence of mass media, popular culture, and "public history." Author note: Susan Porter Benson is Associate Professor and Chair of History at Bristol Community College in Massachusetts. Stephen Brier is Director of the American Social History Project and Senior Research Scholar at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Roy Rosenzweig is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Oral History Program at George Mason University in Virginia.

"This is an important book that fills an important niche: a careful and comprehensive report to the field on the development and possibilities of online history."—Stephen Brier, Associate Provost and Dean for Interdisciplinary Studies, Graduate Center, CUNY

FOREWORD BY GUY KAWASAKI Presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert Garr Reynolds, creator of the most popular Web site on presentation design and delivery on the Net — presentationzen.com — shares his experience in a provocative mix of illumination, inspiration, education, and guidance that will change the way you think about making presentations with PowerPoint or Keynote. Presentation Zen challenges the conventional wisdom of making "slide presentations" in today’s world and encourages you to think differently and more creatively about the preparation, design, and delivery of your presentations. Garr shares lessons and perspectives that draw upon practical advice from the fields of communication and business. Combining solid principles of design with the tenets of Zen simplicity, this book will help you along the path to simpler, more effective presentations.

Thirty million presentations will be given today. Millions will fail. Millions more will be received with yawns. A rare few will establish the most profound connection, in which presenter and audience understand each other perfectly...discover common ground... and, together, decide to act. In this fully updated edition, Jerry Weissman, the world’s #1 presentation consultant, shows how to connect with even the toughest, most high-level audiences...and move them to action! He teaches presenters of all kinds how to dump those PowerPoint templates once and for all and tell compelling stories that focus on what’s in it for the audience. Weissman’s techniques have proven themselves with billions of dollars on the line. Thousands of his elite clients have already mastered them. Now it’s your turn! • What you must do to tell your story Focus before Flow: identifying your real goals and message • The power of the WIIFY: What’s In It For You Staying focused on what your audience really wants • Capture your audience in 90 seconds... and never let go! Opening Gambits and compelling linkages • Master the art of online Web conferencing Connecting with your invisible audience • From brainstorming through delivery Crafting the Power Presentation, one step at a time Named by FORTUNE Magazine as a "Must-Read" "Jerry Weissman makes the challenge of producing and delivering effective presentations delightfully simple. Read it and benefit!" Tim Koogle,Founding CEO, Yahoo! “A great read for all of us who have ever struggled with any aspect of our public speaking skills. Presenting to Win contains the same timeless techniques that helped me [18] years ago.” Jeff Raikes, former President, Microsoft Business Division, Microsoft Corporation, and CEO, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation “Jerry is The Man when it comes to making great pitches. If your pitch doesn’t get a whole lot better after reading this book, something is wrong with you.” Guy Kawasaki, Managing Director and Chairman, Garage Technology Ventures, and bestselling author of The Art of the Start “Presenting to Win is the shortest path to applause for any presenter. It will be your bible for the PowerPoint Age. It’s loaded with easy actions and real examples that really work. I’ve used them. I know.” Scott Cook, Founder, Intuit

Music moves through time; it is not static. In order to appreciate music wemust remember what sounds happened, and anticipate what sounds might comenext. This book takes you on a journey of music from past to present, from the Middle Ages to the Baroque Period to the 20th century and beyond!

Rupert Sheldrake's theory of morphic resonance challenges the fundamental assumptions of modern science. An accomplished biologist, Sheldrake proposes that all natural systems, from crystals to human society, inherit a collective memory that influences their form and behavior. Rather than being ruled by fixed laws, nature is essentially habitual. The Presence of the Past lays out the evidence for Sheldrake's controversial theory, exploring its implications in the fields of biology, physics, psychology, and sociology. At the same time, Sheldrake delivers a stinging critique of conventional scientific thinking. In place of the mechanistic, neo-Darwinian worldview he offers a new understanding of life, matter, and mind.

This “important and timely” (Drew Faust, Harvard Magazine) #1 New York Times bestseller examines the legacy of slavery in America—and how both history and memory continue to shape our everyday lives. Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks—those that are honest about the past and those that are not—that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation's collective history, and ourselves. It is the story of the Monticello Plantation in Virginia, the estate where Thomas Jefferson wrote letters espousing the urgent need for liberty while enslaving more than four hundred people. It is the story of the Whitney Plantation, one of the only former plantations devoted to preserving the experience of the enslaved people whose lives and work sustained it. It is the story of Angola, a former plantation-turned-maximum-security prison in Louisiana that is filled with Black men who work across the 18,000-acre land for virtually no pay. And it is the story of Blandford Cemetery, the final resting place of tens of thousands of Confederate soldiers. A deeply researched and transporting exploration of the legacy of slavery and its imprint on centuries of American history, How the Word Is Passed illustrates how some of our country's most essential stories are hidden in plain view—whether in places we might drive by on our way to work, holidays such as Juneteenth, or entire neighborhoods like downtown Manhattan, where the brutal history of the trade in enslaved men, women, and children has been deeply imprinted. Informed by scholarship and brought to life by the story of people living today, Smith's debut work of nonfiction is a landmark of reflection and insight that offers a new understanding of the hopeful role that memory and history can play in making sense of our country and how it has come to be. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction Winner of the Stowe Prize Winner of 2022 Hillman Prize for Book Journalism A New York Times 10 Best Books of 2021

In this innovative and original collection, people are seen as active agents in the development of new ways of understanding the past and creating histories for the present. Chapters explore forms of public history in which people's experience and understanding of their personal, national and local pasts are part of their current lives.