ABSTRACT
Museums and historic places tend to be on the front lines in the battles that are fought in the history wars and the culture wars. Such battles come to the public forefront in cases of well-publicized exhibits like that of the Enola Gay at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. The cultural meanings of material culture and historic places, after all, spark many of these debates, and historical archaeology will be involved in public debates over the past and what it means to us in the present. Much of the rhetoric of the 'culture wars' centers on history and gains its strength through the deep and widespread belief that a shared history and shared knowledge of that history are necessary for national unity and identity. Sometimes those who perceive a need for shared history seek to mythologize the past and create perfect heroes out of simple human beings. Mythologizing and dehumanizing such heroes stands in the way of honest history.
