Editor's Note

This is the last issue of American Quarterly for which I will be listed as editor on the masthead. My editorship ends this summer and a new editorial team, headed by Curtis Marez, will rotate in. I am pleased to be handing over this role to Curtis, who will bring many fresh ideas to American Quarterly, and to have this last issue, quite by chance, represent many topics that are important to my own work (cultural memory, public art, visual culture, and popular culture) with a wonderful group of essays that exemplify in their range what we hope American Quarterly does at its best. These are all essays that grapple with the issues of our times, the contradictions and tensions of culture, and what those contradictions can tell us about how we look at the past, how the past is entangled with the present, and how we understand what matters in our times. This may sound simple, but it is the essence of what we hope the journal accomplishes.

Working with the editors, the editorial board members, and the editorial staff of American Quarterly has been one of the most rewarding intellectual experiences of my professional life. I would like to acknowledge in particular the contributions of two associate editors who are also rotating out with me: Raúl Villa, who has been an important contributor to the many changes taking place in the journal and who worked very hard to bring to fruition the first special issue produced by the USC-based editorial office, Los Angeles and the Future of Urban Cultures; and Barry Shank, who has been a tireless, reliable, and wise editorial presence at the journal these three years. As is well known, Barry's contributions to the journal extend back many years, as he was the book review editor before becoming an associate editor. His knowledge of the field is extraordinary and his contributions to the journal have been immense. Katherine Kinney, who has been a steady and astute editorial contributor these past few years, will stay on, to everyone's relief, as a part of the new editorial team.

Journals such as American Quarterly survive through the visible labor of many people, including the labor of the members of the managing board, who have all contributed enormously to the journal in these years, spending many hours discussing editorial policies, changing formats, and actual manuscripts. Much of the labor that keeps the journal functioning, however, is largely invisible. It is indeed to a large degree invisible labor that keeps the academic world not only functional but, at its best, rigorous, careful, and intellectually generous. The people who have written manuscript reports for the journal during my time as editor, mostly anonymously, have shown impressive commitment to academic practice in the constructive encouragement they have provided and the work they have done to help authors make manuscripts more relevant. In addition, the graduate students who run the AQ office are a key factor in the journal's success, and they have been a crucial labor force in the realization of each issue. I would like to mention in particular Hillary Jenks and Michelle Commander, who have been managing editors during my time—a job Michelle will continue to do for one more year—and who have been highly competent and efficient professionals. Without them, my job simply would have been impossible. At a time when universities are spending millions of dollars to fight the unionization of graduate students on many campuses, including my own, it seems particularly important to take note of this graduate labor. The day-to-day functioning of the many academic journals that shore up various disciplines and interdisciplinary fields of study is not only dependent on graduate student labor but is often shaped by it. That labor and the commitment it represents, too often invisible, should make us optimistic about the future of academic practice.