memory

Over the past week, like many others around the world, my attention was riveted to the events surrounding the Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting in Parkland, Florida—but as an historian, my central focus was on the control over social memory this horrific event showed was being employed against the American people. […]

Make it a crime to utter their name. Herostratus — or Erostratus — was a 4th-century BC Greek arsonist sought notoriety by destroying the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. His acts prompted the creation of a damnatio memoriae law, forbidding anyone to mention his name. Unconfirmed reports suggest Herostratus actually means “evil loser who shall not be named.” […]