America’s struggle with symbols of its slavery past was highlighted amid clashes over a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Dealing with controversial pieces of historical art has a long, sometimes bloody, and occasionally amusing history. Toppling monuments is a tradition honored by centuries, even millennia. It has often been connected to cultural or religious strife, like the infamous 2001 destruction of Buddha statues in the Bamyan valley of Afghanistan by the Taliban, or acts of vandalism by the Islamic State in Palmyra, Syria and other places.
Statues of discord: The toppling of monuments stretches far beyond anti-Confederate struggle
