<p></p><p></p><p>Mount Rushmore, with its images of four Presidents carved into the Black Hills of South Dakota, is America’s most identifiable monument. It might also be its most monumental contradiction — which is saying a lot, given the country’s gaping contradictions. According to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.matthewdaviswriter.com/">Matthew Davis</a>, the mountain’s biographer, the history of the Rushmore project captures both the remarkable engineering achievements of early 20th-century America and the country’s bloody colonial and racist past. So <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Biography-Mountain-Making-Meaning-Rushmore/dp/1250285100"><em>Mount Rushmore</em></a>, Davis suggests, is indeed as American as cherry pie. Only that pie and those cherries aren’t quite as sweet as the MAGA crowd might like to think. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><p>Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></p><p></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://keenon.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_2">keenon.substack.com/subscribe</a>