Liberty and Freedom

This massive book was published in association with an exhibition entitled “American Visions of Liberty and Freedom,” which was organized by the Virginia Historical Society. The exhibit has an itinerary for displays at museums located in Richmond, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Lexington, and St. Louis, which made it possible for me to examine firsthand some artifacts currently on display at the Senator John Heinz Regional History Center in Pittsburgh. Lavishly illustrated with numerous color photographs of countless objects spanning nearly every conceivable medium in the United States during two centuries, this book is a visual treasure trove to be savored by anyone interested in material culture, visual rhetoric, and American history. The book's sharp focus on symbolic images specifically representing liberty and freedom, such as eighteenth-century liberty trees and poles as well as personifications such as Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty, has made it possible for David Hackett Fischer to span more than two centuries of symbolic objects ranging from prints, paintings, and powder horns to carved designs on furniture, coinage, and medallions. This prolific author, who earned a Pulitzer Prize this year for another recent book, Washington's Crossing (2004), has included materials typically overlooked even in thorough studies of symbolic objects, such as a fireback made by Isaac Zane and an illuminated display recorded by Paul Revere in an engraving.