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The Rescuers

The Remarkable People Who Saved World Heritage

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

The Rescuers: The Remarkable People Who Saved World Heritage tells the story of the courageous individuals who gave their all to save cultural treasures on the brink of destruction.

Readers meet the heroic culture warriors of war-torn Ukraine, the Victorian-era lord who saved a Stone Age village on a remote Scottish island; the irascible Texan who harvested the songs of cowboys and Black convicts; the government operatives, soldiers, and paper conservators who saved the documentary remains of an ancient Jewish community; and the visionary ornithologist who brought back the peregrine falcon when DDT almost wiped it out.

The stories celebrate their grit and determination. They also address some of the most consequential issues of our times, such as global warming and unregulated tourism's threat to fragile sites, Russia's targeted destruction of Ukrainian cultural heritage, agricultural expansion's risk to endangered species, religious and cultural genocide in the Middle East, and competing claims of ownership of Native American treasures by museums and tribes. The Rescuers: The Remarkable People Who Saved World Heritage underscores the vital importance of saving the cultural heritage all of us share.

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    • Library Journal

      February 1, 2025

      In this concise and well-researched labor of love, Moses, chair of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, explores the fragility of the world's cultural assets, the existential forces that make them vulnerable, and the motivations of the remarkable people who rescue significant cultural treasures. The book focuses on six strong narratives about actions that saved and preserved cultural heritage (and in one case, an aspect of the natural world): the postwar rescue of artwork plundered by Nazis; the excavation and interpretation of the Scottish prehistoric site Scara Brae; recordings of previously lost American folk music by Black people and immigrants; the revival of the stolen Iraqi Jewish archive; resurfacing Alaskan Indigenous ceremonial objects; and saving the endangered peregrine falcon. Moses introduces readers to a motley crew of well-sketched protagonists and their motivations--often noble, but sometimes for personal profit or fame. She also doesn't shy away from the intertwined issues of preserving cultural heritage that are particularly trenchant today: appropriation, repatriation, racism, Indigenous rights, and the impact of tourism on fragile sites. VERDICT Well written, a little short, and sparsely illustrated, this is nevertheless a singular volume about an intriguing subject, narrated by an insider. Readers will feel markedly better after reading about archaeologists', preservationists', and the general public's care and responsibility for preserving world heritage.--James Woods Marshall

      Copyright 2025 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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  • English

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