The Museum Time Machine: Putting Cultures on Display: Comedia

'This publication, while in many ways as critical of some museum developments as Hewison's book [Heritage Industry], is by far the more informed and better argued.' - Scottish Museum News

`A solid and challenging book which deserves a wide audience ... there is a need for more like it.' - Heritage Outlook

Introduction, Robert Lumley; Part 1 The Landscape of Nostalgia; Chapter 1 Heritage and ‘The Conserver Society’, Philippe Hoyau, Chris Turner; Chapter 2 The Making of the English Working Past, Bob West; Chapter 3 Museums and ‘The People’, Tony Bennett; Part 2 Museums in a Changing World; Chapter 4 Policy and Politics, Sue Kirby; Chapter 5 Putting your House in Order, Gaby Porter; Chapter 6 Tomorrow’s Yesterdays, Alan Morton; Chapter 7 The Future of the other, Brian Durrans; Chapter 8 ‘Astonished and Somewhat Terrified’, Jeremy Silver; Part 3 Sociology of the Museum Public; Chapter 9 The Pompidou Centre and its Public, Nathalie Heinich, Chris Turner; Chapter 10 Counting Visitors or Visitors who Count?, Eilean Hooper-Greenhill;

Robert Lumley is a Lecturer in the Department of Art History and Communication at Lanchester Polytechnic, Coventry.

A provocative contribution to the current debate on museums, this collection of essays contains contributions from France, Britain, Australia, the USA and Canada.