Never Forget is a study of American memory sites as I have encountered them in my travels across the country. Through this topographic analysis certain patterns and motifs have emerged, such as the frequent reminders of political and racial violence, or improvised ritual sites, like the ritual many Baltimoreans have of placing a penny with Lincoln’s head face up on the unmarked grave of John’s Wilkes Booth. Another archetype found throughout the American landscape is the large number of monuments that contain a charred and twisted artifact from the World Trade Center, often displayed under American flags with the directive, “never forget.” Like the proliferation of confederate monuments in the early 1900s seeking to fortify segregation laws, these monuments to 9-11 also served a political agenda. Many of them were installed just prior to the 10-year anniversary of 9-11, at a time when the government was seeking to rally support for increasingly unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Together these interventions in the landscape hint at the power of monuments large and small to influence collective memory at a time when our history is being increasingly fought over and continuously reshaped.