Place of Memory: Some Recent Publications on Landscape History (Landscape and Memory; The Power of Place; Garden Voices; The King's Privy Garden at Hampton Court Palace)‪.‬

Relationships with the land have always been a strong and integral part of the Canadian experience. From the mnemonic traditions of Aboriginal peoples through the painted landscapes of the Group of Seven to the geographical determinism of the "empire of the St Lawrence", Canadians have celebrated, struggled with, and cursed the peculiarities of the land. Recently, the environmental movement, both globally and locally, has focussed our attention anew on the relationship between nature and contemporary culture. While geographers have made cultural landscapes a focal point of study since the 1920s, the heritage conservation movement has come slowly to incorporate such interaction between people and their natural environment. The four works in this review all address the theme of human relationship with the natural environment. They are linked by such common foci as the role and recognition of memory, divergent expressions of value in landscape, the relevance of place, and the philosophy and practice of on-the-ground treatment. They illustrate the diversity of approaches to conserving the past in today's society. Simon Schama's emphasis is placed on the role of knowledge, understanding, recognition, and appreciation. Dolores Hayden, in contrast, focuses on communication of that knowledge through public action, particularly public art. Hayden's African American, Latina and Japanese American "voices" represent parts of the American experience largely unheard in the historic preservation movement. The "voices" collected by Edwinna von Baeyer and Pleasance Crawford are Canadian; they speak primarily of a subject, rather than a cultural experience, not previously heard. Finally, the restoration of the Privy Garden at Hampton Court Palace in England brings the landscape out of memory and culture, off the page, and onto the ground.