Description
Authenticity has become a key concept in the culture of history and memory in the 21st century. This open access book explores the multifaceted nature of `historical authenticity' and its uses in various academic, museum, and historical-cultural contexts. Through 70 alphabetically-arranged articles, Historical Authenticity explains the problems and power of `historical authenticity' as well as the fascination for authentic objects, authentic places and authentic voices of the past. The book shines a light on how today's attitudes to the past are characterised by an intense striving for historical authenticity - a phenomenon which began to assume new potency in the last third of the 20th century. It considers how this manifests itself in practical terms, like in the value attached to `authentic objects' in museums, collections and archives, or to `authentic places' - be they historic buildings, urban architectural ensembles or memorial sites designated as direct embodiments of history. The volume also reflects on how this desire for historical authenticity and past `reality' goes hand in hand with a longing to experience history `first-hand', as evidenced in the degree of public attention accorded to surviving witnesses of historic events, the frequent screenings of historical documentaries and feature films, and the popularity of historical re-enactments. `Historical Authenticity' convincingly makes the case that this is all ultimately bound up with the human longing for things regarded as `genuine', and the impulse to reconstruct and preserve what is `true' and `original'. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Leibniz Research Alliance.
Binding: Hardback
Binding: Hardback