Curated Decay: Heritage beyond Saving

Transporting readers from derelict homesteads to imperiled harbors, postindustrial ruins to Cold War test sites, Curated Decay provokes an unparalleled challenge to conventional thinking on the conservation of cultural heritage. Caitlin DeSilvey reconsiders the care of certain vulnerable sites in terms of ecology and entropy and explains how we must adopt an ethical stance that allows us to collaborate with - rather than defend against - natural processes. An interdisciplinary reframing of the concept of the ruin that combines historical and philosophical depth with alternative storytelling, Curated Decay represents the first attempt to apply new theories of materiality and ecology to the concerns of critical heritage studies.