David Lowenthal’s Archipelagic and Transatlantic Landscapes

Book excerpt: David Lowenthal was well known for his historical and geographical contribution to conservation and environmental thinking, his understanding and appreciation of landscape, and his critical public and scholarly contribution to heritage debates as a founder of heritage studies. He was a public intellectual and academic scholar, who worked with scholars and practitioners as well as within public fora. His contribution can only be fully grasped in the light of his research and his practical and political engagement with islands, particularly Caribbean islands as a geographer, historian, and scholarly activist. This engagement with material islands was also linked to his more abstract concern with the archipelagic quality of knowledge as it straddles the humanities and natural sciences. Of importance was furthermore his felt need to engage actively in both public and scholarly debates deriving from his family’s background in law, public service, and social activism. The integrated chapters in this book, authored by prominent scholars, together illuminate the many facets of Lowenthal’s biography and written works. With an updated Editor’s introduction and a new afterword by Charles Saumarez Smith, this book will interest students, scholars, and academics in Landscape and Planning, Heritage Studies, Conservation History, and Caribbean Studies. The book was originally published as a special issue in Landscape Research.