Max Page: Why Preserving Difficult Places Matters

In an increasingly diverse nation, one riven by class, race, and political division, including renewed battles over our nation’s history, historic places where our most difficult, tragic, violent, and controversial events have taken place matter more than ever. This talk will explore why preservation and interpretation of difficult places has the potential to be a tool for reconciliation and also advancement of a more progressive vision for the country.

Publications authored or edited by Max Page (l–r): The City's End: Two Centuries of Fantasies, Fears, and Premonitions of New York’s Destruction (Yale University Press, 2008); Why Preservation Matters (Yale University Press, 2016); Giving Preservation a History: Histories of Historic Preservation in the United States (Routledge, 2003, co-edited with Randall Mason).