Zelizer, Barbie2023-05-222023-05-222002-09-012008-03-11https://repository.upenn.edu/handle/20.500.14332/2540The past compels us for what it tells us about the present. It is no wonder, then, that nearly everyone with a voice claims territoriality for it - wide-ranging collectives like nation-states; large-scale interested groups bonded by ethnicity, class and race; professional communities driven by expertise, like historians, filmmakers or journalists. Each strives to colonize connections to the past as a way of lending credence, cohesion or even a simple perspective to life in the present.The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Media, Culture, and Society, Vol 24/Issue 5, 2002, © SAGE Publications, Inc., 2002, by SAGE Publications, Inc. at the Media, Culture, and Society page: http://mcs.sagepub.com/ on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/Article