* Tourists of History: Memory, Kitsch, and Consumerism from Oklahoma City to Ground Zero. Marita Sturken. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007. 244 pp. $89.95 hbk. $24.95 pbk. The last two decades have been permeated by tragedy caused by terrorist acts: the Oklahoma City bombings, the London and Madrid subway explosions, and, of course, the attacks on New York City's World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Through all of these events, the world has watched with a mixture of horror and fascination, appalled by the devastation that such events bring to those affected by them, yet curious about the details behind them and those who perpetuate such mass destruction. This fascination is evidenced by the aftermath of tragic events and the creation of ceremony and circumstances designed to commemorate them. In some cases, this involves the construction of memorials, such as the Oklahoma City National Memorial. In others, it involves the ceremony of remembering tragic events, as with the annual reading of the names of the victims of 9/11. And, oddly enough, in some instances, this need to remember manifests itself in the consumption of products related to these events - t-shirts, teddy bears, and other souvenirs - that offer a way to recall the significance of the events through material objects. No doubt, all of this is a way to remind people of the senselessness of these tragedies. At the same time, it gives the world a means of communal solace, allowing individuals a sense of comfort, feeling they are doing their part to commemorate these unspeakable acts in their own way. It also allows them to put a material barrier between themselves and their emotions by focusing their energies on the activities and mementos commemorating these tragedies, rather than the larger impact of the events themselves. Tourists of History: Memory, Kitsch, and Consumerism from Oklahoma City to Ground Zero by Marita Sturken addresses the complex relationship between tragedy and consumerism. Sturken's premise is that many Americans respond to traumatic events by wanting to hold onto the pieces of them that offer a sense of comfort, rather than a sense of horror, because it is psychologically easier to do so. Sturken is a professor and chair of the Department of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University. She is also the author of Tangled Memories: The Vietnam War, the AIDS Epidemic, and the Politics of Remembering, and the co-author of Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. Sturken has divided the book into five chapters whose primary focus is to assess the societal impacts of the Oklahoma City bombings in 1995, and the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in 2001. …