The Past is a Foreign Country
Cambridge University Press (1985)
| Abstract | 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. | |||||||||
| Keywords | History Philosophy History | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Buy the book | $39.90 direct from Amazon (12% off) Amazon page | |||||||||
| Call number | D16.8.L52 1985 | |||||||||
| ISBN(s) | 0521294800 0521224152 9780521294805 | |||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,875 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesKatherine Clarke (2008). Making Time for the Past: Local History and the Polis. Oxford University Press.
Anthony Kemp (1991). The Estrangement of the Past: A Study in the Origins of Modern Historical Consciousness. Oxford University Press.
J. H. Plumb (2004). The Death of the Past. Palgrave Macmillan.
C. S. Goto-Jones & L. P. Hartley (2005). If the Past is a Different Country, Are Different Countries in the Past? On the Place of the Non-European in the History of Philosophy. Philosophy 80 (311):29 - 51.
Tyler Stovall (2008). Erecting the Boundaries of That Foreign Country Called the Past. History and Theory 47 (1):137–143.
David Lowenthal (1998). The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History. Cambridge University Press.
C. S. Goto-Jones (2005). If the Past is a Different Country, Are Different Countries in the Past? Philosophy 80 (1):29-51.
David Lowenthal (2007). The Past of the Future : From the Foreign to the Undiscovered Country. In Keith Jenkins, Sue Morgan & Alun Munslow (eds.), Manifestos for History. Routledge.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads11 ( #100,866 of 556,840 )Recent downloads (6 months)3 ( #27,428 of 556,840 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
