How the Past Gets Used

National stories, statues, and what an archive decided to keep

Hobsbawm · Anderson · the archivists · 3 chapters · 7 min read

Who decides what a country remembers, and what that decision is for.

Free to read: every chapter below is open

The Uses of the Past

01The National Story and Who Wrote ItOn national histories, most of which were written by people who needed one.
02What a Statue Is ForOn why the date on the plinth explains more than the name on it.
03Whose Archive, and What Is MissingOn what a collection kept, and who decided.