Author : Raphael Samuel
Publisher : Verso Books
ISBN 13 : 1844679357
Total Pages : 509 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (446 download)
Book Synopsis Theatres of Memory by : Raphael Samuel
Download or read book Theatres of Memory written by Raphael Samuel and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2012-09-11 with total page 509 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Theatres of Memory was first published in 1994, it transformed the debate about what is to be considered history and questioned the role of “heritage” that lies at the heart of every Western nation’s obsession with the past. Today, in the age of Downton Abbey and Mad Men, we are once again conjuring historical fictions to make sense of our everyday lives. In this remarkable book, Samuel looks at the many different ways we use the “unofficial knowledge” of the past. Considering such varied areas as the fashion for “retrofitting,” the rise of family history, the joys of collecting old photographs, the allure of reenactment societies and televised adaptations of Dickens, Samuel transforms our understanding of the uses of history. He shows us that history is a living practice, something constantly being reassessed in the world around us.