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A one-of-a-kind guide to fifty of the most important cultural and historic sites in the United States guaranteed to fascinate, educate, and entertain - selected and described by the former director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.From Massachusetts to Florida to Washington to California, 50 Great American Places takes you on a journey through our nation's history. Sharing the inside stories of sites as old as Mesa Verde (Colorado) and Cahokia (Illinois) and as recent as Silicon Valley (California) and the Mall of America (Minnesota) , each essay provides the historical context for places that represent fundamental American themes: the compelling story of democracy and self-government; the dramatic impact of military conflict; the powerful role of innovation and enterprise; the inspiring achievements of diverse cultural traditions; and the defining influence of the land and its resources.



About the Author

Brent D. Glass

BRENT D. GLASS is Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, the world's largest museum devoted to telling the story of America. A national leader in the preservation, interpretation, and promotion of history, Glass is a public historian who today provides management and consulting services to museums, historical organizations, and cultural institutions throughout the United States and in other countries. His most recent book, 50 Great American Places explores the power of essential historic sites and how they illuminate core themes in American history.

Since 2012, Glass has served as a management consultant to more than 50 cultural and educational institutions including the Presidio Trust in San Francisco, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation in Illinois, and the DeVos Institute for Arts Management at the Kennedy Center and University of Maryland. He is currently working with several museums under development including the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the Sing Sing Prison Museum in Ossining, New York. Glass was a member of the Flight 93 Memorial Advisory Commission, a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies, and a trustee of Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. He has lectured about museums and public history in Russia, China, Eygpt, Serbia, Portugal, Lithuania, France, Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic. He was a guest on The Colbert Report and the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Glass earned his doctorate in history from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (1980) , a master's degree in American Studies from New York University (1971) , and bachelor's degree from Lafayette College (1969) .



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