M.J. Rymsza-Pawlowska

History Comes Alive: Public History and Popular Culture in the 1970s (University of North Carolina Press, 2017)

During the 1976 Bicentennial celebration, millions of Americans engaged with the past in brand-new ways. They became absorbed by historical miniseries like Roots, visited museums with new exhibits that immersed them in the past, propelled works of historical fiction onto the bestseller list, and participated in living history events across the nation. While many of these activities were sparked by the Bicentennial, M. J. Rymsza-Pawlowska shows that, in fact, they were symptomatic of a fundamental shift in Americans' relationship to history during the 1960s and 1970s.

Other Writing about Washington, Civic Culture, Public History and Interdisciplinary Media