Monday, July 21 - Louis Masur, The Soiling of Old Glory

In his new book, The Soiling of Old Glory, Louis P. Masur offers a meditation, historical analysis, and cultural interpretation of an iconic image of American journalism and symbolic politics. It’s a careful, thorough consideration of that iconic photograph from the 1970s Boston anti-busing crisis: A flag-wielding young white man appearing to use Old Glory to attack an African American man in a suit --- an almost made-to-order symbol. But of what? Masur retells the story, reframes and reconsiders the photo’s meaning in this detailed, interconnecting study of the place of this particular flag and of the flag historically in shaping perspectives and prejudices. Louis P. Masur is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of American Institutions and Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut where he directs the American Studies Program.
His previous books include 1831: Year of Eclipse and Autumn Glory: Baseball’s First World Series. Listen to my interview and read Tim Rutten's laudatory LA Times review: http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-rutten9apr09,0,1329288.story. Previous "Bibliocracy" programs available at www.kpfk.org, archives.