Abstract

LANDSCAPES, 2016 VOL. 17, NO. 2, 185–193 BOOK REVIEWS Landscape Biographies: Geographical, Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on the Production and Transmission of Landscapes. Edited by Jan Kolen, Hans Renes and Rita Hermans, Amsterdam University Press (Landscape & Heritage Studies), 2015, xi + 421 pp., €99 Hbk, 105 black-and-white illustrations, ISBN: 978 90 8964 4725 Landscape Biographies comprises eighteen chapters by more than 20 authors all of whom discuss the landscape biography concept in one form or another. It is claimed by the book’s editors that the concept of biography better situates past and present landscape within today’s society (and in planning, design and public participation processes) than other concepts do. The first chapter, by Jan Kolen and Hans Renes, sets the tone and philosophical grounding for the book by discussing the history of thought about landscape biography. The main inspi- ration is a 1979 essay by Marwyn Samuels, The Biography of Landscape. His aim was to draw attention to the underlying loss in the fabric of landscape; things like disappearing past ways of living, and the physical alteration of landscape beyond recovery. Although there are similar concerns in 2016, they are not the same. The landscape biography approach requires