Great Readings in Heritage Studies
This curated collection brings together seminal monographs, transformative theoretical frameworks, and field-defining essays in Heritage Studies. Moving beyond introductory surveys, these works showcase how scholars and practitioners have challenged preservationist orthodoxies, historicized institutional power, and articulated the socio-political stakes of memory, curation, and conservation.
Foundational Classics & Critical Heritage Theory
| Title | Author(s) |
|---|---|
| The Past is a Foreign Country | David Lowenthal |
| The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History | David Lowenthal |
| Uses of Heritage | Laurajane Smith |
| “Whose Heritage? Un-settling 'The Heritage', Re-imagining the Post-nation” | Stuart Hall |
| Dissonant Heritage: The Management of the Past as a Resource in Conflict | J. E. Tunbridge and Gregory John Ashworth |
| The Heritage Industry: Britain in a Climate of Decline | Robert Hewison |
| The Invention of the Historic Monument | Françoise Choay |
Memory, Space, & Monumentality
| Title | Author(s) |
|---|---|
| Realms of Memory: Rethinking the French Past (Vol. 1: Conflicts and Divisions) | Pierre Nora (ed.) |
| The Future of Nostalgia | Svetlana Boym |
| “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (in Illuminations) | Walter Benjamin |
| The Texture of Memory: Holocaust Memorials and Meaning | James E. Young |
Museums, Power, & Curatorial Politics
| Title | Author(s) |
|---|---|
| The Birth of the Museum: History, Theory, Politics | Tony Bennett |
| “Museums as Contact Zones” (in Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century) | James Clifford |
| Museums and the Shaping of Knowledge | Eilean Hooper-Greenhill |
| Museums, Society, Inequality | Richard Sandell (ed.) |
Conservation Philosophy, Values, & Heritage Futures
| Title | Author(s) |
|---|---|
| The Seven Lamps of Architecture (featuring “The Lamp of Memory”) | John Ruskin |
| “The Modern Cult of Monuments: Its Character and Its Origin” (in Historical and Philosophical Issues in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage) | Alois Riegl |
| Theory of Restoration | Cesare Brandi |
| Contemporary Theory of Conservation | Salvador Muñoz Viñas |
| Curated Decay: Heritage Beyond Saving | Caitlin DeSilvey |
| Values in Heritage Management: Emerging Approaches and Research Directions | Erica Avrami, Susan Macdonald, Randall Mason, and David Myers (eds.) |
| Heritage Futures: Comparative Approaches to Natural and Cultural Heritage Practices | Rodney Harrison, Caitlin DeSilvey, Cornelius Holtorf, Sharon Macdonald, et al. |
International Governance & World Heritage Politics
| Title | Author(s) |
|---|---|
| A Future in Ruins: UNESCO, World Heritage, and the Dream of Peace | Lynn Meskell |
| International Law and the Protection of Cultural Heritage | Craig Forrest |
| World Heritage on the Ground: Ethnographic Perspectives | Christoph Brumann and David Berliner (eds.) |
Intangible Heritage & Living Traditions
| Title | Author(s) |
|---|---|
| Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage | Michelle L. Stefano, Peter Davis, and Gerard Corsane (eds.) |
| Intangible Heritage | Laurajane Smith and Natsuko Akagawa (eds.) |
| Making Intangible Heritage: El Condor Pasa and Other Stories from UNESCO | Valdimar Tr. Hafstein |
Contested Pasts, Decoloniality, & Restitution
| Title | Author(s) |
|---|---|
| The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution | Dan Hicks |
| Difficult Heritage: Negotiating the Nazi Past in Nuremberg and Beyond | Sharon Macdonald |
| Who Owns Native Culture? | Michael F. Brown |