Description: "In Curating the American Past, Pete Daniel takes readers behind the "Staff Only" door at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History to reveal how curators collect objects, plan exhibits, navigate public-sector politics, and bring alive the events, characters, and concepts that define our shared history"--
Review Quotes: "In Curating the American Past, Pete Daniel narrates his passage from the tobacco fields of North Carolina to the presidencies of leading historical organizations by way of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, where he served as a curator for nearly three decades. His account is a must-read for public historians and every serious student of the rich, contested, and ever-unfolding American experience that Daniel's lifework explores so insightfully and compassionately."
--Joseph P. Reidy, author of Illusions of Emancipation: The Pursuit of Freedom and Equality in the Twilight of Slavery