The Past is a Foreign Country—Revisited
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- Create Date：2021-11-06 06:54:38
- Update Date：2025-09-06
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- Author：David Lowenthal
- ISBN：0521616859
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Summary
The past remains essential - and inescapable。 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。 History embraces nature and the cosmos as well as humanity。 The past is seen and touched and tasted and smelt as well as heard and read about。 Empathy， re-enactment， memory and commemoration overwhelm traditional history。 A unified past once certified by experts and reliant on written texts has become a fragmented， contested history forged by us all。 New insights into history and memory， bias and objectivity， artefacts and monuments， identity and authenticity， and remorse and contrition， make this book once again the essential guide to the past that we inherit， reshape and bequeath to the future。
Reviews
Laura
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It’s all over the place
Ivar Dale
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What a fantastic book！
Billy Marino
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While an important and foundational work for the study of historical memory back in 1985， this "Revisited" edition seems to fail to update on many levels。 One major failure is its lack of perspectives， still sitting back in 1980s white man view of historical study。 Where it does succeed， the points are buried under pompous levels of writing that require excavation to understand。 Lowenthal often begins to make great points throughout， but leaves the reader wondering， and ultimately doing much of While an important and foundational work for the study of historical memory back in 1985， this "Revisited" edition seems to fail to update on many levels。 One major failure is its lack of perspectives， still sitting back in 1980s white man view of historical study。 Where it does succeed， the points are buried under pompous levels of writing that require excavation to understand。 Lowenthal often begins to make great points throughout， but leaves the reader wondering， and ultimately doing much of the intellectual heavy-lifting on their own。 Where the text isn't sparsely scattered through mountains of quotes， especially in the poorly handled "Time-Traveling" chapter， it is often filled with bold claims that require unprovided sources。 This is a remarkable thing when one realizes how many references there are， yet some of the bolder claims about psychology， neuroscience， and biology are left source-less， and where there are sources， they are nearly outdated， looking back to the early 2000s。 This is a mark of how long this new edition took to put together， which while understandable， leaves a 2015 book on the subject wanting more。 Overall， I REALLY want to like this book， but just can't。 I find it's highest value as a foundational 1985 text， something to be appreciated historiographically， rather than a modern look at historical memory。 。。。more
Kristi
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An ambitious examination of how we relate to the past through memory and history to create nostalgia and heritage。 However， I was left uncertain if this volume is an updated version of Lowenthal's earlier text， or if this is a separate work revisiting the topics previously explored。 Considering an impressive variety of cultural productions and phenomenon， this is a weighty synthesis that could have perhaps been shortened。 An ambitious examination of how we relate to the past through memory and history to create nostalgia and heritage。 However， I was left uncertain if this volume is an updated version of Lowenthal's earlier text， or if this is a separate work revisiting the topics previously explored。 Considering an impressive variety of cultural productions and phenomenon， this is a weighty synthesis that could have perhaps been shortened。 。。。more
Sense of History
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A phenomenology of our relation with the pastThis book offers an almost exhaustive description of what relationships one can have with history， now and in the past， and what the motivations and the consequences of these relationships are。 Lowenthal considers all possible things: from the yearning for the past （melancholy/nostalgia） to the complete ignoring of it （presentism）; from a cyclic look at history， to the （modern） experience that the past is very different from the present （'a foreign co A phenomenology of our relation with the pastThis book offers an almost exhaustive description of what relationships one can have with history， now and in the past， and what the motivations and the consequences of these relationships are。 Lowenthal considers all possible things: from the yearning for the past （melancholy/nostalgia） to the complete ignoring of it （presentism）; from a cyclic look at history， to the （modern） experience that the past is very different from the present （'a foreign country'）; from the ruthless distancing from the past （the ravages of modernism）， to the stubborn conservation mode of our time。 Lowenthal illustrates all this with a enormous amount of evidence and illustrations， mostly drawn from the Anglo-European culture， but also more broadly。 The abundance is such that the reading sometimes becomes a bit tedious， partly because of regular repetition。Lowenthal also reflects on the fact that how we deal with the past is not at all innocent: every time we look at the past （even our own personal history）， we change that past， we color it with our own new experiences， our context， etc。 Again plenty of evidence and illustration here that shows how memory （personal or collective） adjusts the past， and how even a subtle reconstruction changes essential aspects of that past。Fortunately， the author does not fall into easy relativism: if the past cannot be known "as it really was" （Ranke）， we may perhaps fantasize about it and do whatever we want with it， or even just ignore it。 No， Lowenthal argues quite clearly that with critical sense， transparency （sources）， respect and empathy， an acceptable reconstruction of the past is possible， but always as a temporary state of affairs， always open to discussion and amendement。Because we can not ignore the past - that's the theme of this book -， it is in us and around us， and ignoring it is stashing an essential part of your existence。 "The past is integral to our being。 We learn to live courageously with its totality， as aware of and alert to its defects and malfunctions as to its glories and virtues， history’s farces along with its tragedies。 ‘There is no document of civilization’， Walter Benjamin reminds us， ‘which is not at the same time a document of barbarism’。 Like Erasmus we need to embrace the vile along with the valiant， the evil with the eminent， the sordid and sad as well as the splendid。 For the whole of the past is our legacy。 "（p 609）I can not make a comparison between this thoroughly revised edition and the original 1985， but I suspect it would be an interesting object of study in itself to explore the changes and additions in Lowenthal's view。So this is not an introduction to the research of history， but rather an indispensable， necessary study that explains how we as humans relate to the past。 In that sense it is mandatory prior reading for all those that want to begin with the scientific study of history。 Impressive！ 。。。more
Marc
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