Description
Book SynopsisBetween 1900 and 1950 the British state amassed a huge collection of over 800 historic buildings, monuments and historic sites and opened them to the public. This book explains why the collecting frenzy took place. It locates it in the fragile and nostalgic atmosphere of the interwar years, dominated by neo-romanticism and cultural protectionism.
Trade Review'State ownership makes conservation political and Thurley knows his cannot help but be a political book- Rosemary Hill, Sunday Telegraph.
-- Rosemary Hill * Sunday Telegraph *
'In this absorbing book, the chief executive of English Heritage explores how, between 1900 and 1950, the British state amassed more than 800 buildings, monuments and historic sites and gave the public access to them. Thurley is a well-placed guide to the characters who enabled this collecting spree and to the challenges that they faced; he tells a vivid story of how the country successfully established a vast open-air museum'– Apollo Magazine
* Apollo Magazine *
'. . .[This] is a timely book documenting the long and passionate struggle for preserving historic buildings and sites.'—R. C. Richardson,
THES -- R. C. Richardson * THES *
‘Thurley’s text [is] knowledgeable, subtle, supple, by turns celebratory and sardonic.’—David Lowenthal,
TLS -- David Lowenthal * TLS *
‘How and why we got into this strenuously nostalgic frame of mind is the subject of English Heritage boss Simon Thurley’s engrossing book.’—Richard Morrison,
The Times -- Richard Morrison * The Times *
