What are the motifs in Fires in the Mirror by Anna Deavere Smith?

History is a recurring idea. Smith is a historian, in the sense that her goal is to gather a multiplicity of perspectives in order to focus on the truth of the past. By displaying the many sides of the issue, she delves into the root causes of the situation in Crown Heights and she attempts to communicate what really occurred. At the same time, however, Smith is also interested in theories of historical understanding.