Born in the U.S.A.

"Born in the U.S.A. will appeal to almost anyone interested in public history. The scholarship is exceptional. The work will be valuable to students in American studies, public history, and museum studies as well as to historic site administrators and their staffs."—Kenneth C. Turino, Historic New England

"Ever since he set his sights on the White House, President Obama has been plagued by allegations from some that he wasn't born in the United States. That's the starting point for this collection of essays by history professors, public historians, museum curators and others on why Americans place importance on birthplaces when it comes to famous people, and how the move to commemorate historic birthplaces first began in the 19th century."—Hampshire Life

"This enterprising inquiry deserves readers, and not only public historians. It's very engaging."—The Public Historian

"Readers of Seth C. Bruggeman's excellent anthology of essays on American birthplace commemorations are sure to see [these sites] in a new and more critical light. . . . One of the strengths of this anthology is its ability to illuminate how and why these sites are physically and/or intellectually constructed and, over generations, reconstructed."—The Journal of American History

"The essays very much succeed in capturing the stakes and claimants of birthplace commemoration."—Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"Born in the U.S.A. makes a significant and worthwhile contribution to public history scholarship and reveals a great deal about the complexity of place in historical memory."—Journal of Southern History

"Brief summaries barely do justice to this rich collection. . . . The Essays in Born in the U.S.A. tell [human] stories--of the literal and figurative construction, and the limits of often-untapped potential, of these sites."—Indiana Magazine of History