The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War - Softcover

Bevan, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1861893191 ISBN 13: 9781861893192

Publisher: Reaktion Books, 2007

Synopsis

A decimated Shiite shrine in Iraq. The smoking World Trade Center site. The scorched cityscape of 1945 Dresden. Among the most indelible scars left by war is the destroyed landscapes, and such architectural devastation damages far more than mere buildings. Robert Bevan argues herethat shattered buildings are not merely “collateral damage,” but rather calculated acts of cultural annihilation.

From Hitler’s Kristallnacht to the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in the Iraq War, Bevan deftly sifts through military campaigns and their tactics throughout history, and analyzes the cultural impact and catastrophic consequences of architectural destruction. For Bevan, these actions are nothing less than cultural genocide. Ultimately, Bevan forcefully argues for the prosecution of nations that purposely flout established international treaties against destroyed architecture.

A passionate and thought-provoking cri de coeur, The Destruction of Memory raises questions about the costs of war that run deeper than blood and money.

“The idea of a global inheritance seems to have fallen by the wayside and lessons that should have long ago been learned are still being recklessly disregarded. This is what makes Bevan’s book relevant, even urgent: much of the destruction of which it speaks is still under way.”—Financial Times Magazine

 

“The message of Robert Bevan’s devastating book is that war is about killing cultures, identities and memories as much as it is about killing people and occupying territory.”—Sunday Times

 

“As Bevan’s fascinating, melancholy book shows, symbolic buildings have long been targeted in and out of war as a particular kind of mnemonic violence against those to whom they are special.”—The Guardian

About this title

About the Author

Robert Bevan is the former editor of Building Design and writes regularly on architectural, design, and housing issues for national newspapers. He lives in Sydney, Australia.

Review

"Timely and original. . . . In this indispensable and beautifuly written first international survey of its type, Robert Bevan raise the importance of safeguarding the world's architectural record." (Ellen Bennett Building Design 2005-07-01)

"Mr. Bevan's text is brimming with detail and informed insight regarding the conflicts he covers. . . . Excellent book." (Art Newspaper 2006-01-05)

"As Bevan's fascinating, melancholy book shows, symbolic buildings have long been targeted in and out of war as a particular kind of mnemonic violence against those to whom they are special." (Guardian)

"The idea of a global inheritance seems to have fallen by the wayside and lessons that should have long ago been learned are still being recklessly disregarded. This is what makes Bevan's book relevant, even urgent: much of the destruction of which it speaks is still under way." (Lucy Daniel Financial Times Magazine 2006-01-22)

"His narrative is compelling and convincing. This important book reveals the extent of cultural warfare, exposes its nature and, by helping us to understand some of the most terrible tragedies of recent times, gives us the means and resolve to fight this evil. All who care must read this book and learn its lessons." (Dan Cruickshank The Independent 2006-02-10)

"The message of Robert Bevan’s devastating book is that war is about killing cultures, identities and memories as much as it is about killing people and occupying territory. War is not just licensed murder but licensed vandalism. Since people are replaceable but buildings and cultures not, the destruction of buildings is often the more ferocious."

(Simon Jenkins The Sunday Times (UK) 2005-02-26)

The Destruction of Memory presents a dark account of how that devastation is brought about, along with a cogent argument for why it deserves recognition as an atrocity separate from the human carnage it so often accompanies. . . . Bevan's grim statistics force readers to confront yet another dimension of the savagery of our age." (Tom Lewis Wilson Quarterly 2006-04-01)

"Bevan wisely doesn't push his case to the point of strict consistence; his weighting of the role of architecture in war is not absolutely uniform from case to case, nor does it need to be. . . . It is sobering to have so many apparent facts and figures in one book. . . . Where power belongs to the aggressor, the destruction of one family's home might be taken as the first embodiment of a genocide. In reminding us of this Bevan has performed a valuable service, no matter what we may think about a rebuilt Warsaw or a cherished ruin. . . . If we accept that there is no architecturally embodied identity of a nation or people, that our current historical existence is not vitally wrapped up in relics of an imagined past except as nostalgia, then we are unlikely to worry about the occasionally destruction of buildings. Bevan's book makes clear that such insouciance (and nostalgia) is the privilege of the secure and well-defended nation-states where the continuity of home and shelter is assumed." (David Simpson London Review of Books 2006-05-25)

"Thoughtful and provocative. . . .Yet from the Nazi looting of synagogues to the Taliban's demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas, deliberate destruction of the physical environment has often presaged devastating conflicts. Bevan's timely book urges us to remain attentive to such early warning signs." (Joshua Arthur In These Times 2006-07-07)

"This absorbing study attempts to tease out meaning from these various vandalisms." (The Scotsman)

Edition details

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1861893191
• ISBN 13: 9781861893192
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 240