Nineteenth-century France grew fascinated with the local past. Thousands of citizens embraced local archaeology, penned historical vignettes and monographs, staged historical pageants, and created museums and pantheons of celebrities. Stéphane Gerson's rich, elegantly written, and timely book provides the first cultural and political history of what contemporaries called the "cult of local memories," an unprecedented effort to resuscitate the past, instill affection for one's locality, and hence create a sense of place. A wide range of archival and printed sources (some of them untapped until now) inform the author's engaging portrait of a little-known realm of Parisian entrepreneurs and middling provincials, of obscure historians and intellectual luminaries. Arguing that the "local" and modernity were interlaced, rather than inimical, between the 1820s and 1890s, Gerson explores the diverse uses of local memories in modern France—from their theatricality and commercialization to their political and pedagogical applications. The Pride of Place shows that, contrary to our received ideas about French nationhood and centralism, the "local" buttressed the nation while seducing Parisian and local officials. The state cautiously supported the cult of local memories even as it sought to co-opt them and grappled with their cultural and political implications. The current enthusiasm for local memories, Gerson thus finds, is neither new nor a threat to Republican unity. More broadly yet, this book illuminates the predicament of countries that, like France, are now caught between supranational forces and a revival of local sentiments.

A Pride of Place, the result of a quarter-century’s worth of painstaking research and collection, presents the first comprehensive architectural and historic inventory of the widely diverse and irreplaceable rural residences of Fauquier County, Virginia. Hundreds of photographs and illustrations, each accompanied by informative text, provide a fascinating and helpful overview of the county’s rich architectural heritage.

Since Roy Bedichek's influential Adventures with a Texas Naturalist, no book has attempted to explore the uniqueness of Texas nature, or reflected the changes in the human landscape that have accelerated since Bedichek's time. Pride of Place updates Bedichek's discussion by acknowledging the increased urbanization and the loss of wildspace in today's state. It joins other recent collections of regional nature writing while demonstrating what makes Texas uniquely diverse. These fourteen essays are held together by the story of Texas pride, the sense that from West Texas to the Coastal Plains, we and the landscape are important and worthy of pride, if not downright bravado. This book addresses all the major regions of Texas. Beginning with Roy Bedichek's essay "Still Water," it includes Carol Cullar and Barbara "Barney" Nelson on the Rio Grande region of West Texas, John Graves's evocative "Kindred Spirits" on Central Texas, Joe Nick Patoski's celebration of Hill Country springs, Pete Gunter on the Piney Woods, David Taylor on North Texas, Gary Clark and Gerald Thurmond on the Coastal Plains, Ray Gonzales and Marian Haddad on El Paso, Stephen Harrigan and Wyman Meinzer on West Texas, and Naomi Shihab Nye on urban San Antonio. This anthology will appeal not only to those interested in regional history, natural history, and the environmental issues Texans face, but also to all who say gladly, "I'm from Texas."

From the outside, they look like a perfect couple: beautiful, intelligent and cultured, Vanessa seems an ideal wife for Roland Antrobus, a man fifteen years her senior who runs a small art gallery in Wolverhampton. Yet both have their secrets. And the façade starts to crumble when Vanessa meets the persuasive, charming Larret Fitzgerald, fiancé of her spoilt half-sister Sybil. Vanessa finds she has placed her happiness in jeopardy and started a chain of events which dramatically alters her future... Set against an evocative and nostalgic portrait of the Black Country in the 1920s, Pride of Place is an intriguing, romantic saga from Judith Glover, author of Minerva Lane.

The Russell and Mab Grimwade Bequest comprises a rich and sometimes unexpected variety of art, books and objects. A scientist, businessman and philanthropist, Sir Russell had wide-ranging interests embracing industry, history and botany. In all of these he was strongly supported by his wife Mab. The core of the bequest is Russell’s collection of visual and textual material, which provides a perspective on the European exploration of the Pacific and the British colonisation and settlement of Australia. His keen interest resulted in an extensive body of prints, drawings, watercolours and books, as well as oil paintings, decorative arts and personal records. These are jointly housed by the University of Melbourne’s Ian Potter Museum of Art, Special Collections (Library) and University Archives. Pride of Place is the first publication to explore the diversity of this remarkable collection. In this beautifully illustrated book, numerous experts share their interpretations of its highlights, responding to past historical attitudes and offering twenty-first century insights.

At the age of almost 47 years old I find myself travelling South on the M6 Motorway heading towards the village that I grew up in, almost 37 years have passed since I was wrenched overnight from everything I knew On May 16th this year my Parents would have celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary that is, if things had been different The journey is a strange one as I find my mind racing through my memory recalling so many different events both good and bad, Im not scared, its taken me all these years to conquer my fears but I have finally managed it. Firstly I stop at Corley Services on the motorway, the very same motorway that over three decades ago I was trying to rescue my cat Kitty from. I buy coffee and stand in the midday sun chatting with three of my closest friends as we eat our freshly prepared picnic, they are 100% behind me with the book and are all excited about reading the final draft. On we go and before long I am turning the car right into Shakespeare Avenue where I pull the car over to the side of the road so that I can take a photograph of the street name, I then coast the car slowly down the road with my eyes darting in every direction trying to absorb everything until they come to rest upon the house where my story began when I was only 2 years old. Further on down the road past Bonnies old house, my Great Auntie Pennys and Great Uncle Edwins old place and then Cleggys old house until I reach the place where my little friend Maddie breathed her last breath

When tragedy strikes a family, their lives are never the same again... The Pride of Polly Perkins is a captivating saga of a warm Liverpudlian family hit by illness, and a nostalgic look back at the communities of yesteryear, from much-loved author Joan Jonker. Perfect for fans of Cathy Sharp and Katie Flynn. At the age of fourteen, happy-go-lucky Polly Perkins faces untold sadness when her beloved father is diagnosed with tuberculosis. As Tommy's stay in hospital turns from weeks into months, Polly's mother, Ada, becomes increasingly anxious as to how she will make ends meet. In an attempt to help out, Polly takes a job as a flowerseller, and when she sells a buttonhole to Charles Denholme, a member of the Liverpool gentry, she sets in motion a chain of events that changes her life forever... What readers are saying about The Pride of Polly Perkins: 'Joan Jonker is the best writer of good, old-fashioned story telling' 'This has to be one of the best books I have ever read. It brings out a mixture of emotions all in one book: tears, joy and above all laughter. I could not put it down. I would recommend it to anyone'

It has been said that art begins where nature ends. In the case of the work of Carl Brenders, art and nature blend in a seamless continuum. This illustrated book includes some of the preliminary sketches for Carl's work.

What makes a person call a particular place 'home'? Does it follow simply from being born there? Is it the result of a language shared with neighbours or attachment to a familiar landscape? Perhaps it is a piece of music, or a painting, or even a travelogue that captures the essence of home. And what about the sense of belonging that inspires nationalist or local autonomy movements? Each of these can be a marker of identity, but all are ambiguous. Where you were born has a different meaning if, like so many modern Germans, you have moved on and now live elsewhere. Representing the 'national interest' in parliament becomes more difficult when voters demand attention to local and regional issues or when ethnic tensions erupt. In all these situations the landscape of 'home' takes on a more elusive meaning. Localism, Landscape, and the Ambiguities of Place is about the German nation state and the German-speaking lands beyond it, from the 1860s to the 1930s. The authors explore a wide range of subjects: music and art, elections and political festivities, local landscape and nature conservation, tourism and language struggles in the family and the school. Yet they share an interest in the ambiguities of German identity in an age of extraordinarily rapid socio-economic change. These essays do not assume the primacy of national allegiance. Instead, by using the 'sense of place' as a prism to look at German identity in new ways, they examine a sense of 'Germanness' that was neither self-evident nor unchanging.