The Future of the Past

by Alexander Stille

A fascinating tour of the past as it exists today, and of the dangers that threaten it, through incisive portraits of our attempts to maintain the high-tech struggles to save the Great Sphinx and the Ganges; the efforts to preserve Latin within the Vatican; the digital glut inside the National Archives, which may have caused more information to be lost than ever before; and an oral culture threatened by a "new" writing itself. Stille explores not simply the past, but our ideas about the past―and how they will have to change if our past is to have a future.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Archaeology, Science, Essays, Philosophy, Anthropology

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Norm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Original topic, insightfully treated. I enjoyed reading and thinking about the future of our heritage. Recommendable

[Philip Girvan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of articles addressing a common theme: the past and humankind's difficult relationship with it.

Stille travels to a number of locations -- Cairo, Alexandria, Sicily, Rome, Xian, Madagascar, remote islands in Papua New Guinea -- talks to a number of people, mostly researchers, religious figures, government officials, a few laymen, about the past, preservation and conservation, ways that the past lives with us still, influencing & impeding our thoughts, actions, conceptions of art, progress, and value.

Stille's writing can be bit dry at times, but his thoughtfulness and curiosity help move the book along.

[EmBe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dieses Buch hat mich tagelang gefesselt, und dabei besteht es nur aus Reportagen aus Asien, Europa und Afrika. Welchen Wert hat die Geschichte, die Vergangenheit, die Traditionen einzelner Kulturen und Orte in einer globalisierten Welt, die mit atemberaubender Geschwindigkeit immer mehr Bereiche der Welt vereinnahmt? Das ist die zentrale Frage, die den Autor dieser Reportagen um die ganze Welt treibt. Der Klappentext macht schon auf das dabei zu Tage tretende Grundparadox aufmerksam. Einerseits besitzen wir (in der westlichen Welt) Mittel wie nie zuvor, die Vergangenheit zu konservieren und wieder lebendig vor Augen zu treten lassen, andererseits sind gerade die Zeugnisse der Vergangenheit, die Geschichte durch unsere Zivilisation in einem noch nicht dagewesenen Ausmaß bedroht.
Alexanders Stilles Reisen führen ihn unter anderem nach Äpypten, wo die Sphinx leise und unaufhörlich zerbröckelt. Ihre Gestalt ist dreidimensional vermessen worden, so dass ihr Erscheinungsbild virtuell konserviert wurde. Sie steht stellvertretend für die faszinierende Hochkultur der Ägypter, deren Zeugnisse durch Touristen und die immer näher an die Monumente heranrückenden Städte bedroht sind. Gleichzeitig bringt der Tourismus auch das Geld hinein, das für die Erhaltung der Denkmäler notwendig ist.
Dem Autor geht es um die Verluste, die die moderne erdumspannende Zivilisation mit sich bringt. Die Verdrängung von alten Sprachen (durch die Globalisierung) und den Verlust von Zeugnissen antiker Hochkulturen (wie der chinesischen und der ägyptischen durch Bautätigkeit und Industrieabgase), das Verschwinden von Tier- und Pflanzenarten und der Verlust des biologischen Gleichgewichts (durch die steigende Inanspruchnahme und die wachsende Erdbevölkerung).
Stille lässt sich jedoch nicht wie andere amerikanische Sachbuchautoren zu plakativen Untergangsszenarien hinreißen, sondern stellt in seinen Reportagen die Menschen in den Mittelpunkt, die dem Verlust entgegenzuwirken oder Veränderungen zu gestalten versuchen. Ihre Versuche sind in die Entwicklung eingebunden, und nicht immer erfolgreich. So ist der italienische Anthropologe, der die kulturellen Errungenschaften einer melanesischen Inselgesellschaft akribisch aufzeichnet und so einer der Bewahrer wird, zugleich auch der Vorbote der Zivilisation, die die kulturellen Traditionen schwächt und langfristig zum Verschwinden bringen wird.
Das Buch ist sehr lebendig geschrieben, das vielschichtige Thema wird nie abstrakt abgehandelt sondern immer sehr konkret und fallspezifisch. Man erfährt sehr viel über Menschen und Mentalitäten im Wandel, über Geschichte und Traditionen. Es macht nachdenklich und schärft den Blick für die Paradoxien unserer Zeit.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is best read one essay at a time, rather than as a continuous book. While each individual essay is fascinating and insightful, the journalistic tone of the book, as another reviewer pointed out, can make it feel like a book length New York Times article, which can be tiring to read. Additionally, footnotes and/or a bibliography would have been appreciated.

[J. Boo]

Has a chapter on Reginald Foster, former Latin expert at the Vatican and author of Ossa Latinitatis Sola Ad Mentem Reginaldi Rationemque (The Mere Bones of Latin According to the Thought and System of Reginald), who died recently.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Reading is not less important than it was … but it has become more of an elite activity.”

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book if you're interested in archeology, art, cultural memory or in technology and the way it affects preservation efforts of all kinds. Highly readable the book contains essays on the rebuilding of the library in Alexandria, one priests efforts to preserve Latin in the Vatican, saving the Ganges from environmental disaster and more. The best thing about this book is that it outlines the paradoxes present in trying to "preserve" the past. In the section on the Sphinx and efforts to preserve it Egyptologist Mark Lerhner relates the Heisenberg uncertainty principle in physics "we change what we observe" to archeology saying "You study it you kill it." Another wonderful thing about this book is the author's examination of how differently different cultures view preservation.

[iosephvs bibliothecarivs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stille takes the reader to eleven locations/cultures and explains how the past (oral/written history, monuments, etc.) is perceived, evaluated, and managed in the information age. The topics he chooses to cover are interesting and he explores them with great detail, covering several sides of every issue. Stille's journalistic writing style is great, but it can take getting used to- it sometimes feels like you are reading a book-length Time magazine article. Some of the information is now dated (book published in 2002) but that makes you actually want to know what these people/cultures are up to today. I recommend this book to anyone interested in history, anthropology, technology, or the environment.

[Altonmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong recommend for this collection of in depth pieces examining various aspects of our past (languages, cultures, architectural treasures, animal species, documents etc.)which are threatened in one fashion or another by modern life. Carefully researched and beautifully written.

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. For although he Stille is considering mainly those things of antiquity, he also looked at environmental treasures. There maybe a few glitches in data, but over all it is well researched.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book about the loss of historical education in the modern world. The chapter on Father Reginald Foster ("Living with a Dead Language") is especially inspiring.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

They're mostly New Yorker articles; it's a good collection of good New Yorker articles.

[RUSA CODES · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the 2003 RUSA Notable Books winners. For the complete list, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rus...

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. The last chapter on the end of reading and the future of technology is compelling.

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in 2003. Yet still, every once in awhile I re-read some pages as a reminder of how good writing is written.

[Morandia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book. I would recommend it. It details various stories of attempts to preserve history

[Lizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

this has a mention of morgantina, the site I excavated at in sicily.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really interesting thoughts on how our perception of the past is changing.