I hope browsers will look at the book’s prologue, since I open the story by describing an excursion to the Statue of Liberty, my first trip there since my 6^th grade.Our “mother of the harbor,” as Emma Lazarus called her, attracts more than three million visitors a year—but few of them are New Yorkers like me. Those who take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and then climb to the top must endure security procedures far more rigorous than at any airport. As I waited in the long security line snaking slowly toward the dock, I thought about what a choice terrorist target Lady Liberty would be and about the ways her symbolism has changed since the terrible attacks of ten years ago. With the lower Manhattan skyline now cut low, the Statue of Liberty stands all the more prominently as the symbol of New York and gateway to the United States.As America’s most visible icon, the Statue of Liberty has always been vulnerable to commercial and political exploitation. A great many advertisers have used it to hawk their products; politicians have made it a backdrop for their campaigns; celebrities, souvenir makers, and even a Las Vegas casino have had it serve their own unlofty designs. Last fall, Lady Gaga joined in, appearing on a prominent magazine cover as a bikini-clad Statue of Liberty, her hair teased into the seven spokes of Liberty’s crown.But despite these often crass and kitschy assaults, Bartholdi’s great green goddess has shrugged off every attempt to debase it. Thanks to her timeless Neoclassical design and spectacular perch in New York harbor, the Statue of Liberty has maintained its dignity, its ability to represent cherished values and ideals. If Lady Gaga can’t trivialize Lady Liberty, nothing can.