Prophets and Ghosts: The Story of Salvage Anthropology by Samuel J. Redman. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2021. REVIEWED BY SARA POLK Gripping the nation from the very formation of the field of anthropology was the idea that Native peoples were disappearing, requiring white scientists to save their languages and material culture from a doomed nonexistence. …

The Art Museum in Modern Times by Charles Saumarez Smith. New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc., 2021. REVIEWED BY JENNIFER MOTT Charles Saumarez Smith’s The Art Museum in Modern Times serves as a type of reference for how museums have changed in the modern era. Smith, a respected Cultural Historian and former Director of both …

Museum Diplomacy: Transnational Public History and the U.S. Department of State, by Richard J.W. Harker. University of Massachusetts Press: 2020. REVIEWED BY JACOB HIGGINS Richard Harker’s book, Museum Diplomacy: Transnational Public History and the U.S. Department of State is a critical look at the program known as Museums Connect. Museums Connect, which operated between 2008 …

Culture Strike: Art and Museums in an Age of Protest by Laura Raicovich. New York: Verso Books, 2021. REVIEWED BY AVA OSOWICK Laura Raicovich’s book Culture Strike: Art and Museums in an Age of Protest challenges the museum’s perceived duty. At their core, museums and museum adjacent organizations serve the public, and many believe that, …

Libraries, Archives, and Museums: An Introduction to Cultural Heritage Institutions through the Ages. Suzanne M. Stauffer, ed. Blue Ridge Summit: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2021. REVIEWED BY KATHRYN PLANK What is the purpose of cultural institutions and what are their roles in society?  Suzanne Stauffer’s book, Libraries, Archives, and Museums: An Introduction to Cultural Heritage …

The Rise and Rise of the Private Art Museum, by Georgina Adam. Lund Humphries in association with Sotheby’s Association of Art, 2021. REVIEWED BY SYD OVERTOOM When considering where to get one’s foot in the door concerning museum work, private museums are usually not at the top of the list. As individuals interested in working …

Idea Colliders: The Future of Science Museums, by Michael John Gorman. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2020. REVIEWED BY MICHAEL CRANICK In Idea Colliders, Michael John Gorman explores the future of science museums. He quotes cellist Yo-Yo Ma about the “edge effect,” a place where spaces are created “to nurture cross-pollination of ideas” (Gorman 2020, 1). Gorman …

Doing Women’s History in Public: A Handbook for Interpretation at Museums and Historic Sites, by Heather Huyck. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020. REVIEWED BY SOFIA ANTILA Heather Huyck’s guide to interpreting women’s history, published in 2020, delves into the way women’s history has been, and should be, interpreted through oral, visual, and written sources. This …

Museum Mercenary: A Handbook for Independent Museum Professionals by Rebecca Migdal. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2020. REVIEWED BY MARISSA HAMM Every aspiring museum professional has heard about the multitude of difficulties they will face when trying to enter the field. In Museum Mercenary, Rebecca Migdal presents her solution to this issue of limited full-time museum …

Museums as Agents of Change: A Guide to Becoming a Changemaker, written by Mike Murawski. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2021. REVIEWED BY PEYTON REICHERTS Mike Murawski’s Museums as Agents of Change: A Guide to Becoming a Changemaker is about how museum workers can become changemakers. Murawski has had many roles in the museum profession. Currently, …