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Review
'An impressive achievement: it assembles and categorizes man's attitudes towards his past in a fashion attempted nowhere else.' John Dixon Hunt, The Times Higher Education Supplement
' … a marvellously entertaining book.' John Kenyon, The Observer
'Lowenthal writes brilliantly, revealing a sweeping grasp of art, literature and philosophy as well as the twists and turns of history.' Myron A. Marty, St Louis Post-Dispatch
'A work of singular merit and grace.' David Keymer, Library Journal
'David Lowenthal gives us a new understanding of a universal human experience by imaginatively refashioning the remains and records of the past in England and America from the renaissance to our own time … a significant milestone in the history of thought and culture.' Merle Curti, University of Wisconsin
' … a tour de force, staggering in the breadth of its approach and eclecticism.' Council for British Archaeology Newsletter
'Highly original, erudite, … this imaginative book dislodges deeply held assumptions.' Publishers Weekly
'David Lowenthal offers us a meditation on misuse of the past in contemporary culture, and by so doing makes a brilliant contribution to our understanding of the present … bold in generalizations yet firmly grounded in particulars rich with human interest.' Michael Kammen, Cornell University
'Everything distinguishable about the past is here … a book which you will enjoy if you know that the past attracts you, or if you think that you are immune to its power or its spell.' Peter Laslet, Washington Post
' … a marvellously entertaining book.' John Kenyon, The Observer
'Lowenthal writes brilliantly, revealing a sweeping grasp of art, literature and philosophy as well as the twists and turns of history.' Myron A. Marty, St Louis Post-Dispatch
'A work of singular merit and grace.' David Keymer, Library Journal
'David Lowenthal gives us a new understanding of a universal human experience by imaginatively refashioning the remains and records of the past in England and America from the renaissance to our own time … a significant milestone in the history of thought and culture.' Merle Curti, University of Wisconsin
' … a tour de force, staggering in the breadth of its approach and eclecticism.' Council for British Archaeology Newsletter
'Highly original, erudite, … this imaginative book dislodges deeply held assumptions.' Publishers Weekly
'David Lowenthal offers us a meditation on misuse of the past in contemporary culture, and by so doing makes a brilliant contribution to our understanding of the present … bold in generalizations yet firmly grounded in particulars rich with human interest.' Michael Kammen, Cornell University
'Everything distinguishable about the past is here … a book which you will enjoy if you know that the past attracts you, or if you think that you are immune to its power or its spell.' Peter Laslet, Washington Post
Product Description
In this remarkably wide-ranging book Professor Lowenthal analyses the ever-changing role of the past in shaping our lives. A heritage at once nurturing and burdensome, the past allows us to make sense of the present whilst imposing powerful constraints upon the way that present develops. Some aspects of the past are celebrated, others expunged, as each generation reshapes its legacy in line with current needs. Drawing on all the arts, the humanities and the social sciences, the author uses sources as diverse as science fiction and psychoanalysis to examine how rebellion against inherited tradition has given rise to the modern cult of preservation and pervasive nostalgia. Profusely illustrated, The Past is a Foreign Country shows that although the past has ceased to be a sanction for inherited power or privilege, as a focus of personal and national identity and as a bulwark against massive and distressing change it remains as potent a force as ever in human affairs.
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First Sentence
The miracle of life is cruelly circumscribed by birth and death; of the immensity of time before and after our own lives we experience nothing. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
The miracle of life is cruelly circumscribed by birth and death; of the immensity of time before and after our own lives we experience nothing. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
I've only just finished the first chapter, but Prof. Lowenthal's style of writing is so absorbing and the examples he gives in each subchapter are captivating.
I didn't buy the book off amazon, but borrowed it from my MA library, so I wouldn't know how the delivery works with the seller.
But the topic is mesmerizing: it speaks about our relationship with the past, which we are restlessly haunted by and which we reify to such an extent that we dream about time-travel and we live more looking backwards to a past we find comforting, because we distrust the future.
It is a book that really makes you think about how you perceive time and how you perceive yourself in time. Can't wait to get back to it!
I didn't buy the book off amazon, but borrowed it from my MA library, so I wouldn't know how the delivery works with the seller.
But the topic is mesmerizing: it speaks about our relationship with the past, which we are restlessly haunted by and which we reify to such an extent that we dream about time-travel and we live more looking backwards to a past we find comforting, because we distrust the future.
It is a book that really makes you think about how you perceive time and how you perceive yourself in time. Can't wait to get back to it!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
For anyone interested in how we look upon the past
23 Sep 2003
Format:Paperback
Almost encyclopedical in his treatment of Western cultures' relations to their past, Lowenthal gives the reader a roller-coster ride, from time travel fantasies to Viking logos in Minnesota. Lowenthal is more into exploring our relation to the past than debunking myths, thus being more open to the manifold ways we use the past than in his later book "The Heritage Crusade." One problem remains: Lowenthal's idea about the foreign-ness of the past, that we today have a different way of understanding the passing of time than our medieval ancestors, could have benefitted from more elaboration. Still, this is a masterpiece.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Good in small doses
10 Nov 2009
Format:Paperback
I'm a grad student reading this for a class on 'heritage tourism.' I've enjoyed the flow of his sentences and the interesting images, but I agree with Kenneth (an earlier reviewer): when a hundred-page chapter can be summarized in one page, I've tended to skim quite a bit.
In our class we've read chapters 1,2,5, and 6, and that's made the book a lot more manageable! These chapters have focused on how modern people use the past for present needs, the issues that come with too much focus on the past, and just how we can know 'the past' (through collective history, individual memory, and tangible relics). Chapter 6 is one of the most interesting, as it emphasizes how we change the past (understood as a mental object we've created) through using it and twisting it to serve our purposes.
If you're running short on time, his table of contents and chapter headings are fairly extensive, so it's possible to get a good sense of the book by looking at it's skeleton. Plus, do make time to read at least ten pages or so to get a feel for his writing! If you're a literature sort of person, it's enjoyable and fluid in small doses. :-D
In our class we've read chapters 1,2,5, and 6, and that's made the book a lot more manageable! These chapters have focused on how modern people use the past for present needs, the issues that come with too much focus on the past, and just how we can know 'the past' (through collective history, individual memory, and tangible relics). Chapter 6 is one of the most interesting, as it emphasizes how we change the past (understood as a mental object we've created) through using it and twisting it to serve our purposes.
If you're running short on time, his table of contents and chapter headings are fairly extensive, so it's possible to get a good sense of the book by looking at it's skeleton. Plus, do make time to read at least ten pages or so to get a feel for his writing! If you're a literature sort of person, it's enjoyable and fluid in small doses. :-D
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
An excellent intellectual study of perception of the past
10 Aug 1999
Format:Paperback
This book is a tough read, but a very informative look into why we view history in the way we do.
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