While snuggling with my sweety recently she nuzzled my neck and inhaled deeply. I really liked where this was going!! She nuzzled further in and inhaled even more deeply. "Yay", I thought, "this is going well!" One more deep inhalation of breath and she started to murmer to me, "Oh baby, you smell so good."  

The stories that a nation tells about its history provide a foundation for building community, creating institutions and transmitting values. For a pluralistic democracy such as the United States, the work that historians call "constructing a usable past" is vital to the task of building a future.