Paving Over the Past: A History And Guide To Civil War Battlefield Preservation

In recent years, a battle has broken out between developers and historians over the future of Civil War battlefields: Do we preserve the land so that future generations can see where the Civil War was fought? Or do we develop the now valuable land to spur economic growth?
In this exhaustively researched book, Georgie Boge and Margie Holder Boge present a plan for the future of Civil War battlefield sites that is designed to meet the needs of both historic preservation and economic growth. The authors provide a framework for developing actual presentation strategies, and they show how historical, cultural, and natural resources can be preserved while providing economic benefit to the community. The subject is relevant to everyone interested in historical monuments and preservation.
The Boges begin by discussing the special importance of battlefield sites to the nation. Citing the historical impact of the Civil War; as well as visitors' emotional responses to the sites, they convincingly argue the need for battlefield preservation. They next summarize existing policies. Through extensive case studies, they demonstrate the inadequacies of current mechanisms and present a detailed policy program that could effectively protect the remaining battlefields and help save other historically or culturally significant sites.
The authors place the many questions surrounding historical preservation in context and provide the critical information that planners, policymakers, and citizen activists need to protect these important national sites.

Georgie Boge and Margie Holder Boge were students at Oxford and Princeton when they began this project.