The Politics of Culture

"The Smithsonian Institution Press publishes a series of significant volumes in anthropology. Each volume collects papers by leading scholars on aspects of a central topic.Using U.S., African, and Nicaraguan examples, this provocative collection explores the ways that people invent and mystify culture to claim political power."

See Laura Henley and Robert Verrey's “Creation Myths and Zoning Boards: Local Uses of Historic Preservation.”