A quarter-century after the publication of his classic account of man's attitudes to his past, David Lowenthal revisits how we celebrate, expunge, contest and domesticate the past to serve present needs. He shows how nostalgia and heritage now pervade every facet of public and popular culture.

Introduction; Part I. Wanting the Past: 1. Nostalgia: dreams and nightmares; 2. Time travelling; 3. Benefits and burdens of the past; Part II. Disputing the Past: 4. Ancients vs moderns: tradition and innovation; 5. The look of age: aversion; 6. The look of age: affection; Part III. Knowing the Past: 7. Memory; 8. History; 9. Relics; Part IV. Remaking the Past: 10. Saving the past: preservation and replication; 11. Replacing the past: restoration and re-enactment; 12. Improving the past; Epilogue: the past in the present.

'Dazzling and wide-ranging ... packed with vivid examples and a vast range of pithy quotations, and throughout expressed with verve and wit.' Robert Tombs, Evening Standard'The range is truly impressive and the understanding, indeed vision, at play in the presentation of past legacies makes for an enthralling read.' Standpoint'In giving a context to conservation work of any type, in providing insights into the ways the past is seen, has been seen, and how the past is analysed (and why), this book is invaluable. ... This is a superb survey. Covering almost the whole field of what we as a species have made, good and bad, and how we deal with this making and its outputs (or indeed how we do not deal with them), this is a book of great range and richness and offers an intensely personal view that always informs and challenges. Lowenthal's sheer energy, his depth of coverage and his insights are accessible, fascinating and essential reading.' Graham Voce, News in Conversation: International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works'Reader-friendly, with a light touch and a sharp sense of irony and paradox. Moves with ease from the psychology of memory to school textbooks, science fiction, museums, forgeries, re-enactments, ephemera, apologies for actions taken long ago, the effects of ageing (on both artefacts and people), and, of course, heritage.' Peter Burke, History Today'A work of extraordinary breadth and depth by a scholar of stupendous erudition ... essential reading for anyone interested in geography, history, and the nature of the human condition.' Alexander B. Murphy, AAG Review of Books'Magnificent book, indisputably a modern classic. Extraordinarily rich and endlessly fascinating meditation on the uses and abuses of the past in modern western culture ... brilliant scholarship, sublimely elegant prose.' Michael Heffernan, AAG Review of Books'Of inestimable value to encounter and understand the world ... Unrivalled scholarship, drawn from a lifetime of collecting and reflecting, upon a dizzying diversity of texts, comments and experiences of the past in the present ... a great read.' David C. Harvey, AAG Review of Books'Master chronicler of our complexly shifting engagements with the past.' Dydia DeLyser, AAG Review of Books'An exemplary philosophical and historical guide on the increased importance of the Past ... Evocative writing endowed with rigor, freshness and humor. Extraordinary power of synthesis, admirable wisdom and amazing lightness.' Luca Muscara, Revista Geografica'Surely ranks among the best of the best.' Bruce Ryan, University of Cincinnati'A stunning work of scholarship, a staggering tour de force.' Stephen F. Brown, University of Ulster'Jaw-dropping interdisciplinarity and dazzling intellectual playfulness.' Simon Ditchfield, York University