The fate of this exhibition has been the subject of at least five books, numerous book chapters, and dozens of articles. These debates are exemplified in the ill-fated Enola Gay exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution. Debates surrounding representations such as literature, art, music, film, and artifacts, particularly concerning how they relate to reality and the influence they have on people, are still very heated at the end of the twentieth century. Aristotle, a student of Plato, countered his teacher's ideas in the Poetics by asserting that poetry was both an imitation and a representation of an ever-changing reality. The nature and power of art and its effect on the populace have been debated since Plato claimed in the Republic and the Laws that poetry was morally dangerous and, as an imitation of appearances, could be wrong. In conclusion, the impact on archives and libraries is discussed.
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It begins with a recap of the Enola Gay exhibition and then considers four topics: museums, management, the media, and memory.
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William Yeingst and Lonnie Bunch note that debates about "how recent history should best be remembered, preserved, and interpreted become less academic and more acrimonious." This essay reorients the discussion and considers the issues in a broader light. Experts from such diverse fields as museum studies, journalism, psychiatry, and history have commented on the event, although the archival literature has been silent. A plethora of articles discussing the development of and controversy resulting from the Smithsonian Institution's ENOLA GAY exhibition has been published.