In 1989, a University of Pennsylvania professor, Carolyn Marvin, stood in front of her free speech class and, without speaking, set fire to an American flag. This dramatic gesture was intended to illustrate freedom of expression and provoke critical examination of a basic American right. In response to the fierce criticism she received for her action, Professor Marvin began a decade of research into the history, myth, and magic of our nation’s flag. Why, she asks, is the flag omnipresent in American culture at so many levels and for so many people? How does it function in the context of an American civil religion? What is the relation of the flag to nationhood?

CAROLYN MARVIN
Carolyn Marvin is Frances Yates Professor in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Blood Sacrifice and the Nation: Totem Rituals and the American Flag, a study of American civil religion.

HANS ULRICH GUMBRECHT
Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht is the Albert Guérard Professor of Literature in the Departments of Comparative Literature, French and Italian, and (by courtesy) of Spanish and Portuguese at Stanford University. He has authored more than 500 articles and many books, including In 1926: Living at the Edge of Time.