In New Bedford, Massachusetts, during the Civil War, a twelve-year-old boy helps his uncle and elderly father gather stones as cargo for whaling ships heading to an undisclosed location.

These fourteen essays address controversies over a variety of cultural properties, exploring them from perspectives of law, archeology, physical anthropology, ethnobiology, ethnomusicology, history, and cultural and literary study. The book divides cultural property into three types: Tangible, unique property like the Parthenon marbles; intangible property such as folktales, music, and folk remedies; and communal "representations," which have lead groups to censor both outsiders and insiders as cultural traitors.

This is a story about a young man who had to grow up in a hurry. Forest Shelburn Nelson was a soldier in World War II, an aerial gunner in a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber aircraft. He fought the war in the sky. This young teenager, who was competing in sports at high school, was now a man shooting down enemy planes. This young man's life tragically ended at the tender age of twenty. His letters were very romantic, thoughtful, and loving. It's difficult to witness the man, his plans, his hopes, his dreams, to just disappear in such a short time. War's tragic consistent legacy remains that there is little more than a few medals on his chest, letters, or pictures to remember Forest by. Forest's feelings about World War II; but I am sure he put every ounce of his being into fighting for his beliefs. It makes no difference which war a loved one has fought in, there always someone who knows him or her a "DEDICATED SOLDIER." Whether your loved ones are dead or live, you are not alone! We each have our private wars that we endure.

Of all prehistoric monuments, few are more emotive than the great stone circles that were built throughout Britain and Ireland. From the tall, elegant, pointed monoliths of the Stones of Stenness to the grandeur of Stonehenge and the sarsen blocks at Avebury, circles of stone exert a magnetic fascination to those who venture into their sphere. In Britain today, more people visit these structures than any other form of prehistoric monument and visitors stand in awe at their scale and question how and why they were erected. Building the Great Stone Circles of the North looks at the enigmatic stone structures of Scotland and investigates the background of their construction and their cultural significance.

This volume addresses controversies over various kinds of cultural property from the perspectives of archaeology, physical anthropology, ethnobiology, ethnomusicology, law, and history.