The Necessity for Ruins, and Other Topics

by J. B. Jackson

Release Date: May, 1980

Edition: Paperback

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Reflections on THE NECESSITY FOR RUINS

J. B. Jackson, the founder and longtime editor of the journal LANDSCAPE, helped readers appreciate, and understand, the modern American landscape--parks and cemeteries, to be sure, but also commercial strips and house types, roads and streetscapes--in all of its marvelous complexity. This short volume contains a number of Jackson's vintage essays. The first and last chapters explain the author's approach to the landscape. Other essays include discussions of gardens and sacred groves, the domestication of the garage, and keys to reading streetscapes. The title essay, "The Necessity for Ruins," begins as a reverie on the importance of public monuments before wryly concluding that history has fallen victim to preservation and the heritage industry. These engagingly written essays are the product of an enquiring mind determined to find meaning in our everyday surroundings..