The public representation of culture and history - Introduction

This article introduces this issue of American Behavioral Scientist in several ways: (a) It provides background information about the conference on which the issue is based, (b) it provides an intellectual and historical context for the idea of the public representation of culture and history in American society, (c) ii develops several substantive propositions (derived from different articles in the issue) dealing with factors that produce contentious conflicts over the public representation of culture and history, and (d) it summarizes the articles in the issue in the order that they appear.