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American public history--in magazines and books, televisiondocumentaries, and museums--tends to celebrate its subject at all costs, even to thepoint of denial and distortion. This does us a great disservice, argues WilliamHogeland in Inventing American History. Looking at details glossed over in threeexamples of public history--the Alexander Hamilton revival, tributes to Pete Seegerand William F. Buckley, and the Constitution Center in Philadelphia--Hogelandconsiders what we lose when history is written to conform to political aims.Questioning the resurrection, by both neocons and the left, of Alexander Hamilton asthe founder of the American financial system--if not of the American dreamitself--Hogeland delves deeply into Hamilton's brutal treatment of working-classentrepreneurs. And debunking recent hagiographies of Pete Seeger and William F.Buckley, Hogeland deftly parses Seeger's embrace of communism and Buckley'sunreconstructed views on race. Hogeland then turns his attention to the U.S.Constitution Center in Philadelphia (the location of Barack Obama's speech on race), comparing its one-note celebration of the document to the National Park Servicetours of nearby Independence Hall. The Park Service tours don't advance anyparticular point of view, but by being almost purely informative with a kind ofhands-on detail, they make the past come to life, available for both celebration andcriticism. We should be able to respect the Constitution without being forced to ourknees before it, Hogeland argues; we can handle the truth about the Framers' intensepoliticking and compromises.. Only when we can ground our public history in thegritty events of the day, embracing its contradictions and difficulties, will we beable to learn from it.