In this new volume, Russell Fraser assembles fourteen twentieth-century writers he judges "worth keeping." All were famous in their time, but many outlived it, enduring an eclipse that Fraser intends this book to dispel. Each of the authors differs in background and in the kinds of writing practiced, and while together they do not constitute a modern canon, Fraser persuasively presents them as a group distinguished by a more than ordinary affiliation for language. Leading off are Oscar Wilde and J. M. Synge, both of whom were Irish and principally known as playwrights. The Scottish poets Edwin Muir and G.M. Brown are complemented by three great Europeans: Paul Valery, Eugenio Montale, and Osip Mandelstam, "mandarins" who wrote for an elite of their time, not a social elite, but readers who could read. The New Critics, who gave language first place in their writing, loom large in this account. R.P. Blackmur and Allen Tate are followed by Delmore Schwartz, Austin Warren, and Francis Fergusson, lesser stars orbiting those greater than themselves. Kingsley Amis the novelist and James Dickey the poet, with whom the book concludes, had a great run at fame and fortune, but ended bleakly. The world was livelier for these writers' presence, and what they left us still gives satisfaction. This heterogeneous group may be said to be our saving remnant. In a time of coarsened feeling, its members possess in high degree the ability to discriminate, seeing acutely, and inspiring feeling where it was dead. Their function is therapeutic, even restorative for the life of letters. To give them a hearing is the principal purpose of the book.

The importance of protecting significant buildings from decay and destruction would seem to be undeniable. Yet whilst the majority of buildings of merit constructed before the Second World War have been highlighted as worthy of protection there is much indifference, and in some cases hostility towards many important post-war buildings. These deserve to receive wider formal recognition but in many cases continue to be mistreated or even demolished.This book examines many of the philosophical and practical issues surrounding the conservation of modern buildings and also the problems faced by building practitioners in dealing with buildings constructed in a wider range of styles and materials than at any other time. Climate change in particular has forced change in the way in which we think about buildings, with the pressures to address issues of energy efficiency becoming more urgent and likely to have consequences that may alter the perceived architectural and historic interest of modern and traditional buildings alike.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1881.