sis of identity and, therefore, of memory. The design of the Vietnam War memorial recognized the impossibility of building a monument that represented the war for everyone from a singular perspective. Maya Lin’s design for the memorial along was unable to resolve or contain the memory of the Vietnam war dead but inspired hundreds of thousands to bring their own memorials to the wall. These things left are part of ‘contested public discourse.’”
The work is very scholarly, reading like a dissertation. Hass frames her argument via history (making comparisons to the Civil War’s unpopularity with many and its displaced soldiers in the aftermath of Reconstruction). She also uses a learned study of American funerary practices and the ways they have changed over time. After such analysis, she is also to place the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in a proper and enlightening historical and social context. In a sense, the underlying goal is to highlight the changing symbolic meaning of war and remembering the resultant casualties. In an intensive study of the actual memorial, Hass notes that items left at the base of the wall, from a bottle of Jack Daniels and a ring with a letter t
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